Deputy Attorney General (Deputy AG) Lisa O. Monaco traveled to California this week to advance the Justice Department’s strong partnerships with state and local law enforcement, and collaboration with the private sector, to promote the public safety and security of the American people.
Deputy AG Monaco spoke at the Wing 2023 conference in northern California, which brings together senior executives across major industries to address emerging technology and cybersecurity issues for the business community and society. She stressed the indispensable role of public-private collaboration to identify and disrupt a range of threats to the homeland – from ransomware attacks to ongoing efforts by foreign adversaries to steal our data and critical technologies such as quantum computing and artificial intelligence. The Deputy AG emphasized the key role that victim reporting has played in the success of the Justice Department’s cyber-strategy pivot to prioritize near-term disruptions and victim protection. And the Deputy AG discussed the 21st century tools and techniques the Department is using to target illicit actors, harden supply chains, and protect innovation, including the Disruptive Technology Strike Force launched earlier this year.
While in California, the Deputy AG addressed the annual meetings of both the Major Cities Chiefs Association (MCCA) and the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) in San Diego. In her closing keynote speech at MCCA and her remarks to the IACP State Associations of Chiefs of Police, the Deputy AG discussed the Justice Department’s priorities of combatting violent crime, taking illegal firearms off the streets, and battling the flow of synthetic opioids like fentanyl into our communities. In all her engagements, she emphasized the vital role that the Department’s partnerships with federal, state, local, tribal, and international law enforcement plays in tackling the most serious threats.
She underscored that, all too often, the heaviest burden in the fight against violent crime and illegal drug and firearms trafficking rests on the shoulders of the Department’s state, local, and tribal partners, who are taking on these challenges with diminishing resources and personnel, and often at great personal risk.
The Deputy AG also called attention to the recruitment and retention issues impacting law enforcement agencies nationwide. In keeping with the Attorney General’s direction for the Justice Department to identify strategies to address these challenges, she previewed that soon the Department will release more than 50 recommendations to help police departments address recruitment and retention issues. These include ways to modernize hiring standards to align with the realities of policing in the 21st century, accelerate the hiring process, and prioritize diversity and inclusion.
As part of the Justice Department’s commitment to supporting local law enforcement, the Deputy AG highlighted the $75 million in grant funding recently awarded to state and local law enforcement agencies across the country – funding that will help law enforcement combat the distribution and trafficking of illegal drugs, increase officer access to mental health and wellness services, and ensure agencies have the resources they need to keep our communities safe.
While in California, the Deputy AG also visited the U.S. Attorney’s Offices for the Central and Southern Districts of California, where she met with U.S. Attorneys Martin Estrada and Tara McGrath, their leadership teams, and the dedicated prosecutors and professional staff of both offices. She thanked them for their dedication to the Department’s mission, especially the work each office is doing to tackle violent crime.
In both districts, the Deputy AG met with the leaders of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies to reinforce the Department’s commitment to partnerships with their agencies and to discuss best practices and effective law enforcement initiatives. In the Southern District of California, the Deputy AG was joined by ATF Director Steve Dettelbach and DEA Administrator Anne Milgram for a series of briefings at the San Diego Imperial Valley High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) Offices on how law enforcement from federal, state, and local agencies are working together to combat the deadly fentanyl epidemic and the trafficking of firearms – including ghost guns.