How can better communication and increased information sharing improve homeland security?

Everyone can agree the more information you have about a situation the better you can plan, prepare and make better decisions about. The attacks on 9/11 opened our eyes that our existing technology could not bridge the gap of information sharing and therefore hampered a myriad of operations and problems before us. Part of the solution for this problem was the establishment of the Department of Homeland Security, with its primary mission of bridging the information gap not only between technologies but between agencies and establishments. One concept of sharing information was developed by John Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory which revolved around a layers system. These three layers were considered the linchpin of information sharing; data layer, integration layer and the presentation layer. The data layer is where all of the different data sets and applications extend across various agencies, disciplines and jurisdictions. The integration layer allows for the connecting of proprietary and legacy systems which are pooled by common protocols such as internet protocols. The presentation layer allows for the publication of these pooled systems to build a better picture for everyone involved to see. Another aspect of information sharing and better communications is the use of National Information Exchange Model (NIEM) allows for the sharing and searching of critical information and intelligence between government agencies, federal, state and local law enforcement and other designated agencies and entities. I discussed this topic last week at length it is obvious solution to common growing problem, not only within the U.S. government, but also at the state and local levels. While NIEM may not an end-all solution, it does bridge the gap quite nicely between federal, state and local law enforcement agencies when it comes to utilizing the Global Justice XML Data Model, for example. This xml model allowed for collaborative entities to define certain areas and language that would be synonymous across the board and agencies. Collaboration is one very important key in communication and information sharing. Collaboration is ultimately about information flow and that conduit must be a two-way street, regardless of the medium employed (Kamien, 2012, p. 328). Effectively communicating is about trust, establishing good relationships, having transparency and common goals. Intelligence that is received at one organization, may be useful or fulfilling to another organization, but the latter organization may not know that intelligence is attainable if the first organization does not share it. This is where collaboration comes in and this is also where the other factors (trust, establishing good relationships, having transparency and common goals) aid in the collaboration between the two organizations. Collaboration is also a way to conserve resources and eliminate duplication of processes or paperwork and can be an effective way to improve the way organization does operate. Achieving effective collaboration efforts can only be done through culture changes that develops and rewards such endeavors (Kamien, 2012, p. 330). Without

collaboration, much needed intelligence and information just lies upon the floor of a hording organization or entity, only to be discovered after a tragic event has happened. Homeland Security: Best Practices for Local Government Salient Point Sharing Information between Governments We can all agree that work is accomplished at a quicker pace and our workloads are lightened when we work in a collaborative effort, because the burden of work is evenly distributed between several individuals, instead of just one person doing all of the work. The same analogy can be said about sharing information between several individuals or between several agencies. When information is shared there are more eyes focusing on the issue, which in turn, means more people or departments can be concentrating on producing the same outcome or conclusion. To truly have an environment where information can move freely between people, departments, agencies and governments, there must be some common elements within this collaborative environment. It is about trust, establishing good relationships, having transparency and common goals; these are the basic common elements that make collaboration and the sharing of information vital. Without these common elements, a collaborative environment will cease to exist or be strained at the very least. Intelligence that is received at one organization, may be useful or fulfilling to another organization, but the latter organization may not know that intelligence is attainable if the first organization does not share it. This is where collaboration comes in and this is also where the other factors (trust, establishing good relationships, having transparency and common goals) aid in the collaboration between multiple people, departments or organizations. Collaboration is also a way to conserve resources and eliminate duplication of processes or paperwork and can be an effective way to improve the way organization does operate. Achieving effective collaboration efforts can only be done through culture changes that develops and rewards such endeavors (Kamien, 2012, p. 330). Without collaboration, much needed intelligence and information just lies upon the floor of a hording department or organization or entity, only to be discovered after a tragic event has happened. Homeland Security: Best Practices for Local Government Salient Point Public Donations Management We have seen it over and over on television, whenever there is a national tragedy or a natural disaster people volunteer their time and service along with what appears to be a never-ending stream people dropping of donation to help their fellow man. But what happens when local, state and federal agencies get donations they cannot use or have too much of? Are these donated

goods passed on to local charity agencies that could put these good to good use for their muchneeded patron? Since FEMA usually takes command of these types of events they are usually inundated with requests and directions concerning donations and volunteering opportunities. Public donations management came about due to Hurricane Andrew in 1993 and the problem with donations that occurred. FEMA invited its planning partners voluntary agencies, State and local governments, other Federal agencies, and some business and industry partners to address the problem of unsolicited donated goods and volunteer services. They agreed on planning assumptions and recommendations for States to manage unsolicited goods, unaffiliated volunteers, and undesignated cash donations; these key elements became the initial National Donations Management Strategy. 10 key principles were developed to address the management of unaffiliated volunteers specifically and to supplement the national strategy on donations management (Buckley, 2004). These ten key principles are: 1 Donations Activities May Begin Before a Disaster Declaration 2 Donations Management Should Address Undesignated Goods and Spontaneous Volunteers 3 Shipment of Designated Goods May Be Affected By State Policies 4 State and Local Governments Are In Charge Of Donations Operations 5 Federal Government and National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster Have Support Roles 6 State Should Make Full Use of Existing Voluntary Agency Capabilities 7 Use a Flexible Strategy 8 Use a Team Approach 9 Cash Donations to Voluntary Agencies Is Preferred 10 Information Management is Essential Basically, FEMA has put together a program for local, state and federal agencies and jurisdictions to help cope with donations and voluntary services during a crisis and avenues to pursue for successfully using all donations and voluntary services. Annual Editions Salient Point D.C. Deploys Wireless Net for First Responders In almost every situation communication is truly the key and this could not be more important, especially when it involves first responders such law enforcement, firefighters and emergency medical technicians as they are usually the ones placed in harms way due to their unique positions. The ability to share pertinent information between these entities is informative at the least and lifesaving at its best. The ability to openly communicate to a broad audience allows

entities to notify other responding entities of any hazards at a particular site or the capability to inform other entities of past criminal activity or behavior associated with individual(s) or scene. While it is a given that these communication devices should work with all entities within a jurisdiction, attempts should be made to these communication devices work across jurisdictions. The capability of communicating across multiple jurisdictions can be a costly endeavor and needs to be a state-led effort in order to be successful. But the ability to be on the same page within a jurisdiction should be the primary goal as communicating across different jurisdictions may not happen enough to warrant the serious consideration of cross-jurisdiction communication devices and network. Washington D.C. introduced an innovative web-based application called the Capital Wireless Integrated Network (CapWIN) that spans not only Washington D.C., but Maryland and Virginia as well. Were the first of its kind in the country where multiple agencies across multiple jurisdictions can communicate in a single application to provide data, images, and conferencing capability (Badey, 2007). It runs on laptops and handheld devices and will run on any carriers lines where it can be access regardless of service provider. The system also works as back-up communications forum emergency responders hit communication dead-spots with their primary radios and communication devices. The system also allows troopers to run record checks on license plates, drivers licenses, warrants and vehicle registrations. CapWIN allows fire, police, and emergency and transportation officials to communicate unabated and seamlessly; bridging the communication divide that once stood between all entities. Annual Editions Salient Point The Department of Homeland Security: Charting a Path Forward The Department of Homeland Security is one of the youngest departments in the United States government just over a decade old but its responsibility to the United States is massive to say the least. The second Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff addressed the Heritage Foundation concerning four main areas that needed improvement they were, preparing for disasters, securing Americas borders, safeguarding critical infrastructure and risk management. I will be addressing the third area safeguarding critical infrastructure. The majority of most cities infrastructure is are interdependent upon one another, especially when it comes to the electrical grid or electrical infrastructure, as power (electricity) is not only necessary, but vital for the other infrastructures to operate. Therefore, the securing of these vital infrastructures is of the upmost importance and should also be of the highest priority to not only local and state leadership but also of national leadership. We have all seen reports in the news lately concerning critical infrastructures that have been compromised by state-sponsored actors such as the Chinese (Klimas, 2013). The ability to cease control of crucial American infrastructures would allow that entity to wreak havoc on an essential part of the American

lifestyle and therefore have the potential to cause panic and chaos very quickly on the American psyche. Again, most of all have read about the Stuxnet virus and how it was able to effectively employ subterfuge on one of Irans nuclear sites by using computer code to reprogram a certain type of PLC (programmable logic controller) which controlled their centrifuges. The reprogramming allowed the centrifuges to operate in both a slower and faster than normal operating range resulting in damaging the centrifuges beyond repair and yet, the Stuxnet virus was able to display to the Iranians that the centrifuges were working within normal ranges, unbeknownst to the operators that they were not showing the true story. This type of virus should be a huge eyeopener to everyone that works or is in charge of any type of infrastructure, as it clearly displays the vulnerabilities and the capabilities for these vital resources to be manipulated from the outside. Website, Article or Report Identification Key Points and Summary This week I looked at the Department of Homeland Securitys Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) and how it works and is integrated with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS), which took over for the defunct Immigration and Naturalization Service in 2002. The ESB consists of various off-the-self commercial products that work together to provide an easy to use interface that hides the complexity of the legacy systems. For example, the initial service that will be hosted by the ESB is the Person Centric Query (PCQ) Service (Hopkins, 2007). Also, the PCQ will be an interface to nine (9) existing systems and will gather and present the resulting data as a consolidated set. The nine underlying systems from which the data is gathered are implemented in a variety of different technologies including legacy mainframe database systems; Oracle based server systems, and newer service oriented systems (Hopkins, 2007). This COTS system bridges and integrates the information and data gaps that would be inherent in these otherwise standalone systems, cultivating data and information from a myriad of servers and databases to present a current and comprehensive picture. Another feature of the ESB is that the current and comprehensive picture that is displayed to the end user(s) is raw. The ESB does not analyze or change the data it presents, other than to display the time and date it is being retrieved. Another feature of the ESB is it uses a secured means of transportation and delivery to the end user(s). The data delivered by the ESB have numerous security controls implemented to ensure that the data from the underlying connected systems remains intact from when it is first queried

from the original underlying source system until it is delivered to the consuming application or end user. The primary method of this control is the use of secure socket layer (SSL) processing between all components that do not reside on the same physical machine (Hopkins, 2007).

References Badey, T. (2007). Annual Editions: Homeland Security. Chicago: McGraw-Hill Higher Education. Buckley, K. (2004). Managing spontaneous volunteers in times of disaster: The synergy of structure and good intentions. Washington, DC: Points of Light Foundation & Volunteer Center National Network. Hopkins, H. (2007). Privacy impact assessment for the united states citizenship and immigration services (uscis) enterprise service bus (esb). Retrieved from Department of Homeland Security: www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/privacy/privacy_pia_uscis_esb.pdf Kamien, D. (2012). Homeland security handbook: Strategic guidance for a coordinated approach to effective security and emergency management. New York: McGraw-Hill. Klimas, L. (2013). Chinese hackers compromise very critical weapons systems. Retrieved from The Blaze: http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/05/28/chinese-hackers-compromisevery-critical-weapons-systems/