As the humanitarian crisis continues in Syria and the territories held by the Islamic State terrorist group, the U.S. will be taking in at least 10,000 refugees, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson reaffirmed during a Nov. 18 speech.

"The world faces an unprecedented outpouring of more than 4 million refugees from Syria," Johnson said during a keynote address at CyberCon 2015, hosted by Federal Times, adding that America holds a responsibility to have a hand in helping these people.

Get full CyberCon 2015 coverage.

Last year, the U.S. took in some 2,000 refugees, Johnson said, stating that the administration intends to welcome five times as many in the next calendar year.

While this is a big increase, it's still only 0.25 percent of the millions of refugees seeking asylum, Johnson noted.

The vast majority of these refugees being accepted into the U.S. will be women, children and families, the secretary said.

"Both the U.N. High Commission on Refugees and we have prioritized for resettlement the most vulnerable of refugees," Johnson said. "Which means women, children and families, who are the principle victims of the violence perpetrated by both the Assad regime and ISIL in Syria."

Despite those people being the most vulnerable, DHS will not shirk its responsibility to screen all refugees entering the country.

"The process for vetting Syrian refugees prior to acceptance and resettlement in this country is very thorough," he said. "It occurs in multiple stages, involves the State Department, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Health and Human Services and in consultation with our law enforcement and intelligence communities."

That process is not only time-consuming, it is the most pervasive screening done for any persons immigrating to the U.S., refugees or otherwise, Johnson said, calling it "the most thorough vetting process conducted with respect to anyone who crosses our borders."

About Aaron Boyd

Aaron Boyd is an awarding-winning journalist currently serving as editor of Federal Times — a Washington, D.C. institution covering federal workforce and contracting for more than 50 years — and Fifth Domain — a news and information hub focused on cybersecurity and cyberwar from a civilian, military and international perspective.

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