Welcome to the
Secretary of Veterans Affairs & Homeland Security
In 2010 Governor Bob McDonnell initiated legislative action which changed and re-organized the former Office of Commonwealth Preparedness (OCP) into the current Office of Veterans Affairs & Homeland Security (OVAHS). In April of 2011 Terrie L. Suit was appointed by Governor McDonnell to the position of Secretary of Veterans Affairs & Homeland Security after previously serving as Assistant to the Governor for Commonwealth Preparedness. The name change and re-organization of the office serves an important two-fold purpose. First, it distinguishes and elevates veteran’s issues in the Commonwealth of Virginia, a major priority of Governor McDonnell’s. Second, it serves to clarify the all hazards role and responsibilities of the office under the universally recognized Homeland Security title. With this legislation the Department of Veterans Services (DVS) was moved from the Office of Public Safety to the Office of Veterans Affairs and Homeland Security along with the Virginia War Memorial. The Office continues to lead the Governor’s initiatives focused on relationship building with the active duty military community, response to Base Realignment and Closure actions, Veterans issues and Homeland Security initiatives.
Virginia: Growing Strong Tour Roundtable
Secretary of Veterans Affairs & Homeland Security Terrie Suit conducted a military member's spouse and family roundtable in conjunction with Governor McDonnell's week long "Virginia: Growing Strong Tour." The Growing Strong tour provides the opportunity for Governor McDonnell and members of his Cabinet to make themselves available to engage in conversations with citizens, stakeholders and families all across the Commonwealth.
The purpose of Secretary Suit’s round table event was to directly converse with service members and their families in direct discussions regarding efforts and initiatives of the Administration to make Virginia the "most military and veteran friendly state in the nation" and more importantly, hear from the members and their families about the issues and opportunities that are important to them and remain to be addressed. Legislative, programmatic and administrative accomplishments were presented during the first half of the roundtable discussions while military family participants provided ideas, comments and suggestions regarding a wide range of topics dealing with the education of their children to transportation related issues affecting their commute to and from their duty stations. The overall goal of today’s event was to explore potential ways the Commonwealth can better accommodate our military and veterans communities.
Family of Heroes
Virginia's Wounded Warrior Program has launched an online pilot project
to teach families of veterans how to help their loved ones adjust to
civilian life. The "Family of Heroes" interactive simulation will also help relatives recognize and respond to
post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental health challenges.
The resiliency training was prepared in collaboration with the Virginia
Department of Health. The initial project targets the families of
280,000 veterans in the state's northwest region. But the Virginia
Wounded Warrior Program's Executive Director, Catherine Wilson, says
plans are to expand it if the results are beneficial.
"The program actually allows the family member to choose an avatar or a
character and to engage in practice conversations with a family member
who is a combat veteran, for example, that maybe experienced
post-traumatic stress or some kind of post-deployment stress. And they
give various different situations where the family member can learn to
communicate with the military member that is just coming off of
deployment. So it's sort of a real-time, interactive conversation that
without really being aware, it's teaching new skills on how to
communicate," said Wilson.
The simulation also teaches signs and symptoms, how to motivate the
veteran to seek help, and where to go for assistance. The free online
training can be accessed at familyofheroes.com.
Veteran-Entrepreneur Roundtable at ODU
Governor McDonnell held a Veteran-Entrepreneur Roundtable on March 30, 2012 at Old Dominion University as part of "2012: Year of the Entrepreneur." He was joined by Secretary of Veterans Affairs and Homeland Security Terrie Suit, Captain Mary Jackson, Commanding Officer of Naval Station Norfolk, student veterans, veteran-entrepreneurs and military leaders for a discussion on entrepreneurship in Virginia and the needs of established and future entrepreneurs in the veteran community. The roundtable began shortly after it was announced that Virginia’s unemployment rate had fallen to 5.7%, a three-year low. Governor McDonnell shared the good news on unemployment and updated them on his veterans’ initiatives for the 2012 legislative session. The participants shared policy suggestions and how they saw the state could support the needs of student-veterans and veteran entrepreneurs.
Visit the 2012: Year of the Entrepreneur website for more information.
Pictured here (L to R):
Timothy Goodrich, President, Timitron Corporation, President and CEO; Michael Leydet President of the Old Dominion University Student Veterans Association; Captain Mary Jackson, Naval Station Norfolk, Commanding Officer; Governor McDonnell; David F. Harnage, Old Dominion University, COO; Terrie Suit, Secretary of Veterans Affairs and Homeland Security; Coralea Linthicum, Naval Station Norfolk, TAP Supervisor; Scott Taylor, Entrepreneur
Pictured here (L to R):
Captain Mary Jackson, Naval Station Norfolk; Commanding Officer; Governor McDonnell; David F. Harnage, Old Dominion University, COO
(Photos courtesy of photographer Chuck Thomas, Old Dominion University)
Governor’s Campus Preparedness Conference
The Office of Veterans Affairs & Homeland Security is putting on the finishing touches for this year’s Governor’s Campus Preparedness Conference. Please check back soon for dates and location! This great conference allows participants to share information on campus security strategies, participate in panel discussions on security issues, and examine the latest products and services to improve campus security from a variety of vendors.
PIV-Interoperable Credential Case Studies
The Smart Card Alliance has release a white paper titled, “PIV-Interoperable Credential Case Studies” featuring PIV-I credentialing programs from Booz Allen Hamilton, SAIC, XTec Incorporated and the Commonwealth of Virginia. The case studies explore the organization’s choice of PIV-I, best practices and lessons learned around deployment and benefits of implementation. Download the whitepaper (PDF).
Hampton Roads Regional Resiliency Assessment Program (RRAP)
The Regional Resiliency Assessment Program (RRAP) is a cooperative, National Protection and Programs Directorate (NPPD) Office of Infrastructure Protection (IP)-led assessment of specific critical infrastructure and a regional analysis of the surrounding infrastructure. The RRAP evaluates critical infrastructure on a regional level to examine vulnerabilities, threats, and potential consequences from an all-hazards perspective to identify dependencies, interdependencies, cascading effects, resiliency characteristics, and gaps. Each year, RRAP projects around the Nation are selected by NPPD/IP with input and guidance from Federal and State partners. RRAP projects, which are voluntary and non-regulatory, focus on specific infrastructure sectors within defined geographic areas and address a range of hazards that could have regionally and nationally significant consequences.
Strong partnerships with State, local, territorial, and tribal government officials are vital to the RRAP process. The RRAP relies on engagement and information sharing with Federal agencies; private sector facility owners and operators; law enforcement; emergency response organizations; academic institutions; and other stakeholders. RRAP projects involve comprehensive, year-long efforts that can incorporate various components, including voluntary facility vulnerability assessments and security surveys, first responder capability assessments, targeted studies and modeling, subject matter expert workshops, and other opportunities for valuable information and data exchanges.
The RRAP produces a comprehensive Resiliency Assessment that presents the results and findings of the project, including key resilience gaps and options for addressing these shortfalls. The Resiliency Assessment, along with supporting documents and information, are provided to select RRAP project participants in the form of a multimedia presentation. Facility owners and operators, regional organizations, and government agencies can use the results to help guide strategic investments in equipment, planning, training, and resources to enhance the resilience and protection of facilities, surrounding communities, and entire regions. The goal of the RRAP is to mitigate the Nation’s risk of loss of life and physical and economic damage from natural and manmade hazards. Virginia’s Hampton Roads bridges and tunnels system is one of twelve RRAPs being conducted across the United States for 2012.
Governor Bob McDonnell announced today the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) is joining forces with the military and transportation-related businesses to put former servicemen and women and National Guard and Reserves members to work in the transportation industry. Through the new Troops to Trucks program, DMV is making it easier for personnel trained by the military to operate heavy vehicles to obtain civilian commercial driver's licenses (CDL).
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Governor McDonnell today participated in the Military Appreciation Month proclamation ceremony aboard the USS San Jacinto at Naval Station Norfolk. The event celebrates the heroic and patriotic men and women of the United States Armed Forces for their service and dedication. Governor McDonnell issued a proclamation for the month of May highlighting the sacrifices made by the members of the United States Armed Forces and the family members that support them. May was designated as Military Appreciation Month nationally by congress in 1999.
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