OpenHomelandSecurity Working Together: Governments, Businesses, Non-Profits...

The sharing of timely information important to critical infrastructure by federal agencies is a fallacy. We're told time and again that various security clearances are needed before information can be shared. As an InfraGard member, I'm asked to report suspicious or unusual activity; a one-way street. My suggestion is simple. Make obtaining various security clearances less onerous to obtain and direct those agencies... more »

I believe making the public more aware of possible terrorist and/or terrorist threats will assist budget and personnel strapped law enforcement agencies to leverage off the public sector.

Shows like, "Americas Most Wanted", have assisted law enforcement in catching criminals. Request you explore using this type of medium to let people know, you need help.

Other Public awareness programs are: Crime Stoppers (which... more »

Although i posted this under Working Together ... it also relates to transparency in how DHS dollars are spent across the nation. Not just grant dollars, but contracts, MOUs, cost reimbursements and in-kind resource exchanges.

DHS should identify all its MOU's, contracts, cost reimbursements, in-kind resource exchanges and grants that do not compromise national security so that American citizens in all sectors can... more »

According to to GAO report, SPP costs the federal government 17% more to operate. In Montana we have seven east side airports that are private and the other seven airports are federalized. The SPP department has pushed to make Montana the pilot program for privatization. In Montana we feel that screening for profit is not what our indended mission is about. These outsourced jobs are not guarenteed to these federal... more »

Background: There are well-established agencies and organizations in place to ensure basic human needs following a major disaster – food, water, clothing, shelter, medical care, relief workers, transportation, and of course monetary donations. But these disasters also create overwhelming, critical shortages of expensive and hard to transport items that are not readily available through government and non-government... more »

In reference to the Defense Base Closure and Realignment (BRAC) Commission's mission to support possible closure of military bases, why can't DoD transfer ownership of certain bases to FEMA to use as "staging bases" where supplies and equipment can be strategically located in response to emergencies? In addition, these locations can be used for training. States where these bases reside could benefit as well in assisting... more »

Less than 10% of the overall population has taken the time to create a family emergency plan. This is even after the recent tragedies in Haiti, as well as other natural disasters around the world and in the United States. Take into consideration that over the last 20 years tens of millions of dollars has been invested in trying to get citizens to create a family emergency plan. Unfortunately, the success rate of getting... more »

I believe that the SPP PROGRAM SHOULD BE STOPPED ALTOGETHER. The DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY AND TRANSPORTATION SECURITY ADMINISTRATION work in UNISON to FIGHT AGAINST TERRORISM..and to PROTECT OUR MODE'S OF TRANSPORTATION abroad. With that, I believe that the American people have come to recognize us as ONE TEAM- FIGHTING TOGETHER FOR ONE CAUSE. If this "unison" is broken by some airports becoming privatized and... more »

HSIN could learn from the FBI's Infragard program. membership at Infragard has grown to over 30,000 individually vetted members, providing secure communications to and from Washington as well as between members. DHS HSIN should partner with Infragard to leverage this pool of infrastructure members.

Another world-class public private partnership is OSAC (the Overseas Security Advisory Council, administered by Department... more »

In the DHS email distributed on Friday, a link was included to the National Disaster Education Coalition. I followed the link and was led to a federal computer access portal. After a little google, I found the web site for the NDEC. This site has not been updated since 2005. How current or valuable is that. In addition, I noted that not one national Citizen Corps Council representative. CCC's are the ones in the... more »

In 2007 the Bush Administration signed executive order 13434 establishing the National Security Professional Development concept. Although this concept appeared in a recent GAO report and in the DoD QDR, little information on its implementation has been provided to the public. At the same time we still see that the interagency has challenges working together to achieve common goals (Christmas Bomber, for example).... more »

Many of the FOUO bulletins that DHS sends to state and local governments and to the private sector and posts on portals like HSIN contain non-sensitive threat awareness information that would also be valuable in general terms to the American public. DHS should create a new category of unclassified threat awareness bulletins - similar to the State Department's public travel advisories - that provide generalized information... more »

Expand the CDP to include mandatory classes for Mayors, City Managers etc. When I attend a class at the CDP, I see first responders, Emergency Managers,and Planners, but not the people who also need to be there.

Before a Mayor, City Manager, Council Member from any size town takes office, he/she should have core training in emergency management.

HAZUS-MH, a multi-hazard risk assessment software tool from FEMA, should be open-sourced. Improvements in usability, GIS integration, reports, and in some cases scientific modeling can be achieved by opening the source code while still maintaining an authoritative version for grant-funded programs like HMGP.

 

(See an academic editorial regarding Open HAZUS at http://dx.doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)CP.1943-5487.0000022)

The U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS) seeks the cooperation/ support of NGOs (non-governmental organizations) and non-profits (charities) in the improvement of homeland security efforts in the U.S. Such increased cooperation has seldom occurred because DHS is not providing direct planning and/or funding of subject efforts. DHS tends to provide funds to individual states, and most states lack the personnel skilled... more »