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From the White House

Gearing Up for the Second Annual National Summit on Preventing Youth Violence

by Michael Strautmanis

I am excited to announce that next week, several senior White House officials including Valerie Jarrett, Joshua DuBois and I will be joining other federal, state and local policymakers, advocates and community leaders at the Second Annual National Summit on Preventing Youth Violence. Valerie and I participated in this dynamic Summit last year, and I can't wait to learn more about all the progress that has been made. I know the six cities involved in the National Forum on Youth Violence Prevention have made great strides on their comprehensive plans to reduce youth violence in their communities, and we can all learn from the successes and the challenges they have to share.

I am thrilled that the issue of youth violence prevention will receive the attention it deserves from federal and local officials who are working hard each day to make our communities safer. At the Summit, we will hear from Cabinet officials including Attorney General Holder, Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Shaun Donovan, and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. We will also hear from Mayor Nutter of Philadelphia, Mayor Villaraigosa of Los Angeles, and the Mayors of the six cities currently participating in the Forum: Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Memphis, Salinas, and San Jose.

The issue of youth violence prevention is important our nation and it has been an honor to work with folks at the Federal and local levels. I look forward to hearing from a diverse set of committed stakeholders on how we can continue to amplify the national conversation around youth violence by bringing cities together and creating long term plans to address this problem. Additionally, We're excited to have representatives from communities across the U.S. join us and hear about opportunities to get involved with the Forum. In 2012, the Forum will expand its reach through inviting new cities into the network, continuing to provide technical assistance, and rolling out a brand new online toolkit for any city confronted by youth violence.

Youth violence is not inevitable, but in order to make communities safe for all of our young people, everyone must be at the table. Initial findings from what will be an ongoing assessment of the Forum are promising, showing increased levels of collaboration and enthusiasm in the six cities. Next week's Summit is exciting because it will convene Federal officials, mayors, law enforcement, leaders of the faith community, school officials; youth outreach organizations, and youth themselves as active participants in this important dialogue. By coming together and speaking out, we will send a message to communities and young people across the country that you are not alone, and we are in this together. I can't imagine a better way to start the week.

Click here for more information on the National Forum on Preventing Youth Violence

Michael Strautmanis is the Deputy Assistant to the President and Counselor for Strategic Engagement to the Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2012/03/30/gearing-second-annual-national-summit-preventing-youth-violence

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From the FBI

The Cyber Threat
Part 2: Shawn Henry on Partnerships, Challenges

03/30/12

Part 2 of an interview with Shawn Henry, executive assistant director of the Criminal, Cyber, Response, and Services Branch.

Q: Why are partnerships so important?

Henry: The threat we face is not solely within the FBI's area of responsibility. So we work very closely with other law enforcement agencies and the intelligence community domestically. We share tactics and intelligence. We also partner with the private sector, because they often are the victims and see attacks before anybody else. The final piece—and one of the most significant—is international law enforcement partnerships. The ability to reach across the ocean once we identify criminals and put our hands on them is something that is relatively new. For many years, the adversaries believed they were immune to prosecution because they were thousands of miles away. That's not the case anymore. Through our partnerships we have arrested hundreds of bad actors who targeted U.S. and foreign infrastructure and institutions. Just in the last two years we have worked with dozens of countries, and we have actually stationed FBI agents overseas into the police agencies in countries including Ukraine, Romania, The Netherlands, and Estonia.

Q: So the cyber threat is truly global in scope?

Henry: Absolutely. In the physical world when somebody robs a bank, the pool of suspects is limited to the number of people in the general vicinity of that bank. When a bank is robbed virtually, even though it is very real for the victims—the money is actually gone—the pool of suspects is limited to the number of people on the face of the earth that have a laptop and an Internet connection, because anybody with an Internet connection can potentially attack any other computer that is tied to the network. You don't have to be a computer scientist to launch these types of attacks.

Q: Going forward, what are the challenges regarding the cyber threat?

Henry: What I call the expansion of the network is going to create challenges. As technology increases, the threat becomes greater. All our wireless networks and smart devices are network-based, and anything touching the network is potentially susceptible. As more and more information transitions across the network, more adversaries will move to get their hands on it, because that information is extraordinarily valuable.

Q: You have responsibilities beyond the cyber area. What are some of the challenges you see with other criminal matters?

Henry: As an organization, fighting terrorism is rightfully the FBI's number one priority, but criminal threats are substantial. There is white-collar crime, where we've seen people lose their entire life savings because of criminals taking advantage of them. There's something very rewarding about seeing our agents and analysts aggressively working to take those criminals off the streets. We've seen public corruption cases where people have abused their position for personal gain. I see those types of cases continuing. There's a percentage of people in society that are always going to be bad actors.

Q: What are you going to miss when you leave the Bureau?

Henry: The people and the mission. There is nothing else I wanted to do more in my professional life than to be an FBI agent. The quality and caliber of the people I have worked with are second to none. Working day to day to carry out our mission to help protect the country is an experience that can never be replaced. I leave with a tremendous sense of pride.

http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2012/march/cyber_033012/cyber_033012