On January 24, ...

... 2003, in a governmental reorganization undertaken in the wake of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the United States established the Office of the Secretary of Homeland Security, a precursor to final establishment of the new Department of Homeland Security authorized by Congress the year before. Today the department is home to a host of governmental agencies, among them the Transportation Safety Administration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Federal Emergency Management Agencies, and U.S. Coast Guard.
... 2007, in the Pacific coastal city of Manta, 4 persons, among them Ecuador's Defense Minister, Guadalupe Larriva, died in a collision between 2 helicopters. Just 9 days earlier Larriva (below), a Socialist and university professor, had become the country's 1st woman, and among its few civilians, ever to hold that post. Appointed on February 1, 2007, to replace her was another woman, Lorena Escudero. Not affiliated with any political party, before her appointment Escudero had been director of the Center for Latin American Social and Political Studies at the University of Cuenca. (See comment below.) The 2 were "part of a wave of female defense leaders" in Latin America. (photo credit)
 
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