DOD Identifies Army Casualty

The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Freedom's Sentinel.

1st Lt. Trevarius Ravon Bowman, 25, from Spartanburg, South Carolina, died May 19, 2020, in Bagram Air Force Base, Afghanistan, from a non-combat-related incident. The incident is under investigation.

Bowman was assigned to Company B, 198th Signal Battalion, 261st Signal Brigade, Newberry, South Carolina. The unit is attached to the 228th Theater Tactical Signal Brigade, South Carolina National Guard.

For more information regarding 1st Lt. Trevarius R. Bowman, media may contact Capt. Jessica C. Donnelly, South Carolina Army National Guard Public Affairs at 803-299-5304 or email at jessica.c.donnelly.mil@mail.mil.

Acting Secretary Wolf Traveling to Texas

Tomorrow, May 21st, Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad F. Wolf will travel to Dallas, TX to meet with industry and local leaders as we enter into the reopening of the economy. The Acting Secretary will tour AllianceTexas, an industrial community that has been critical in maintaining our supply chain security throughout the crisis.

On Friday, May 22nd, the Acting Secretary will visit the Fort Worth Fire Department Training Academy, where he will tour the facility and discuss ways DHS can further support first responders during the COVID-19 pandemic. Before returning to D.C., Acting Secretary Wolf will visit Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport to meet with the men and women of Customs and Border Protection and Transportation Security Administration, who are risking their own health and safety throughout the pandemic to man the frontlines.

DHS Announcement: CISA Releases Guidance on Essential Critical Infrastructure Workers During COVID-19

On May 19, 2020, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) released version 3.1 of its Guidance on the Essential Critical Infrastructure Workforce. Version 3.1 provides clarity around many individual worker categories, including expanded language for those workers supporting at-risk communities and the essential nature of health facility workers in communities across the country. The revision also includes updated language to better reflect terminology used in food and agriculture industries, and includes other minor technical adjustments. Further, it addresses changes in the daily lives and routines driven by COVID, adding as essential those who enable telehealth and the availability and sale of goods and services to enable home schooling.

This Guidance is not a federal mandate, and final decision on its use remains with state and local officials, who must determine how to balance public health and safety with the need to maintain and/or more fully return-to-work critical infrastructure personnel in their communities. As the nation’s response to and recovery from COVID-19 continues to evolve, CISA will work in close coordination with our partners across government and industry to update this list as needed. 

The degree to which state and local orders have already leveraged this Guidance when defining essential workers is encouraging. Equally, we hope this revised guidance helps you as your community continues to respond to and recover from the impacts of COVID-19. Please direct any questions on this guidance and its use to CISA.CAT@cisa.dhs.gov.