Homeland Security, Disney Team For Welcoming Film

  • October 24, 2007
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Department of State have formed an unlikely partnership with Walt Disney Parks and Resorts to create "Welcome: Portraits of America," a multimedia effort aimed at tourists to the U.S.

Disney provided a seven-minute film and hundreds of still images, featuring American people as part of the effort. Disney commissioned the project as part of the Rice-Chertoff Initiative to make America's borders--like cell membranes--permeable to desirable elements and impermeable to whomever Homeland Security deems undesirable.

"We greatly appreciate Disney's significant contributions to our efforts to make America's embassies and airports more welcoming to our international guests. Disney's creativity and excellence wonderfully capture the essence of America, which is embodied in the diversity and values of our people," said Karen Hughes, Under Secretary of Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, Department of State, in a release.

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"We are proud to partner with the U.S. government to extend a world-class welcome to America's guests," said Jay Rasulo, chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. "This project showcases America's greatest asset: the ordinary people who make this nation extraordinary."

The film and still portraits feature the diversity, friendliness and optimism of the American people. The film will be shown in the Federal Inspection Areas of U.S. airports, and in U.S. embassies and consulates overseas, while the still portraits will be incorporated in posters, banners and other imagery welcoming visitors to the U.S. The first airports to feature the images will be Washington Dulles International Airport and Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, Texas, to be followed by the nation's other international airports.

--Karl Greenberg

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