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 - President-elect Barack Obama is likely to choose Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano to be secretary of homeland security, top Obama advisers and several Democrats said Thursday as the shape of Obama's Cabinet begins to emerge.

WASHINGTON - Fran Townsend, the leading White House-based terrorism adviser who gave public updates on the extent of the threat to U.S. security, is stepping down after 4 1/2 years.

WASHINGTON - President Bush signed legislation Friday that intensifies the anti-terrorism effort at home, shifting money to high-risk states and cities and expanding scrutiny of air and sea cargo.

Cage rattling and a little foot stomping has paid off for Arizona as the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has more than doubled the amount of grant money available to our state.

President Bush, appearing at a Paradise Valley resort at the foot of Camelback Mountain, authorized a Homeland Security Department funding bill Wednesday that features $1.2 billion for additional fences, technology and manpower along the U.S.-Mexico border.

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.

WASHINGTON - The two-year-old Homeland Security Department is undergoing a massive overhaul to centralize its analyses of terrorism intelligence and place higher priority on bioterrorism.

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

Are your computers safe and secure? As part of the national Stop.Think.Connect campaign against cyber threats to computers in the private and public sector, the city of Mesa and the Department of Homeland Security are hosting a cyber security summit at the Mesa Arts Center on Wednesday, Sept. 26.

LOS ANGELES - Ratings champion "American Idol" will face serious competition when it returns next month: the Department of Homeland Security.