The Role of Media in National Security

About the Lecture:

Exploring the role of media in national security and how coverage can both positively and negatively impact the public’s perception of the work performed. In a world where transparency equals trust, the lecture will examine how to navigate the seemingly opposed priorities of transparency and national security.

About the Speaker:

Jenny Burke is a professional communicator with a career spanning national security, border security, public safety, and technology for more than 25 years. For the last 19 years, she has worked in public affairs across the Department of Homeland Security.

With a background in technology communications in the private sector, Ms. Burke was recruited by the newly established Department of Homeland Security in 2006 to help the Domestic Nuclear Detection Office – currently the Office of Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction – establish its communications office. This work led directly to U.S. Customs and Border Protection as the agency deployed radiation detection monitors to ports of entry across the country.

Ms. Burke spent ten years at CBP working with national security, technology, trade, and travel topics. She became the agency’s first-ever press secretary in 2014 working directly for the Commissioner with high-profile topics such as use of force and the unaccompanied child migration crisis.

In the years following CBP, Ms. Burke worked with several components with DHS. She ran the public affairs office at the DHS headquarters during the transition between the Obama and Trump administrations in 2017. She served the Federal Emergency Management Agency as press secretary in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria. She also served as the press secretary for the Transportation Security Administration and at US Immigration and Customs Enforcement where she was also the senior career official in the Office of Public Affairs.

Host or Publisher The Institute of World Politics