President-elect Barack Obama formally named Gov. Janet Napolitano today as his choice for Secretary of Homeland Security.

WASHINGTON - Former NYPD commissioner Bernard Kerik, who helped rally New York City's police force and its citizens following the Sept. 11 terror attacks, is President Bush's pick to run the Homeland Security Department.

December 3, 2004

WASHINGTON - The Homeland Security Department objected at first to a United Arab Emirates company's taking over significant operations at six U.S. ports. It was the lone protest among members of the government committee that eventually approved the deal without dissent.

If Janet Napolitano becomes secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, she would be in charge of an agency whose operations she has frequently criticized as governor.

WASHINGTON - Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, whose name became synonymous with color-coded terror alerts and tutorials to the public about how to prepare for possible attack, is resigning, U.S. officials said Tuesday.

WASHINGTON - President Bush promoted his most trusted foreign policy adviser to Secretary of State on Tuesday, tapping Condoleezza Rice to replace warrior-turned-diplomat Colin Powell as part of a sweeping second-term Cabinet overhaul.

Arizona's two U.S. senators lashed out Wednesday at the Department of Homeland Security, charging the agency with what amounts to profiling people as terror risks based on their political beliefs.

WASHINGTON - On the eve of the second anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, President Bush is urging that law enforcement authorities get the same powers to investigate and prosecute suspected terrorists as they already have to combat drug-traffickers, embezzlers, mobsters and other criminals.

WASHINGTON - A B-52 bomber was mistakenly armed with six nuclear warheads and flown for more than three hours across several states last week, prompting an Air Force investigation and the firing of one commander, Pentagon officials said Wednesday.

WASHINGTON - The United States has "credible intelligence from multiple sources" that al-Qaida is determined to launch an attack in the United States in the next few months that could be linked to events such as an upcoming international economic summit and the summer political conventions, Attorney General John Ashcroft said Wednesday.

With a new state law as ammunition, Gov. Janet Napolitano is clearing the way to have Arizona state police start hunting down human smugglers.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced $30 million in federal grants Tuesday to prevent drug-fueled violence from spilling into the United States from Mexico.

Gov. Jan Brewer wants face time next week with President Barack Obama to tell him what she feels he needs to do to secure the border.

U.S. interrogators in Iraq are building a digital catalog of prisoners of war and loyalists of Saddam Hussein’s Baath Party, scanning and saving their fingerprints and other body characteristics in databases.

A federal judge said Thursday there appears to be no legal basis for a request that she order the Obama administration to do more to protect the border.

WASHINGTON - Travelers by air, land and sea faced heightened security Monday as the nation steeled itself against a possible grandiose terrorist attack that government officials say al-Qaida has signaled could be imminent.

WASHINGTON - With an eye on a large number of symbolic gatherings, Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge is forming a new government task force to better coordinate public and private security - and hopefully prevent the next terrorist attack.

WASHINGTON — Fighting homegrown terrorism by monitoring Internet communications is a civil liberties trade-off the U.S. government must make to beef up national security, the nation's homeland security chief said Friday.

Somewhere out there on America's northern borders, security patrol agents are showing up to work, grabbing a newspaper, and positioning their vehicles to gaze across one of the Great Lakes, so they can enjoy a scenic view while they work the daily crossword puzzle -- on our dime.

WASHINGTON - With the nation on high alert for terrorist attacks, Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge outlined a national plan Tuesday he said would harden America's defenses as war with Iraq loomed closer.

WASHINGTON — Determined to show a commitment to stopping the flow of illegal immigrants, the Senate convened a special session Thursday and passed a $600 million bill to put more agents and equipment along the Mexican border.

Once, the barren mesas and shrub-covered canyons that extend east of the Pacific Ocean held the most popular routes for illegal immigrants heading into the U.S. Dozens at a time sprinted to waiting cars or a trolley stop in San Diego, passing border agents who were too busy herding others to give pause.

Leigh Adams of Scottsdale patrolled Monday at Scottsdale Fashion Square.