Lorie Dankers is a Seattle based spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). She joined DHS in 2006 as a spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) before moving to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) in fall of 2011.
Ms. Dankers is currently the public affairs manager for the TSA handling media and public affairs duties for a nine-state-region in the western United States. In this role, she is responsible for explaining TSA programs, procedures and priorities to reporters and other stakeholders; publicly representing the agency’s position on transportation security matters; and overseeing security-related public outreach programs for the agency.
After graduating from the Edward R. Murrow School of Communications at Washington State University in 1989, Lorie moved to the Washington, D.C., area where she began her career as a field producer at Newslink, a television news bureau that provided content to television stations in Charlotte, N.C., Indianapolis, Ind., New York; and Richmond, Va. Her beat included Capitol Hill, federal agencies and the White House. Within a few years, Lorie began working in the U.S. Senate and later joined the media relations office at the U.S. Department of Transportation, working as public affairs spokeswoman alongside three different Secretaries of Transportation.
Lorie grew up in Poulsbo, Wash., and currently resides in Bellevue, Wash. She is a former WSU Alumni Association President and past chair of the WSU Libraries Council. She is a life member of the WSU Alumni Association, a WSU benefactor and can often be seen playing piccolo in the WSU Alumni Band. Outside of work, Lorie likes to travel and spend time with her husband, Jeff Johnson (’87); daughter, Bridget; and mini-dachshund Louisa.