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DHS: Scare and Scare Alike

The DHS has been around for more than 100 days now. Where do you fit in?

By Anonymous

September 01, 2003 — CSO — OK, so weve all adjusted to the color alerts put out by the government. But what do they really mean to us? And, more to the point, what do we really mean to them?

By them, of course, Im referring to the new Department of Homeland Security. I dont think the guys in Washington understand that CSOs have a serious place at their table. As owners of 85 percent of the critical infrastructure of this country, the private sector is an important constituency for the DHS. When it comes to cyberspace, product diversion, financial crime and a host of other domestic threats, the private sector operates the safeguards. It is no longer feasibleor preferablefor the public sector to single-handedly control the protective apparatus of this nation.

However, the legislation that created the DHS never clearly identified the private sectors role in homeland protection. Nor did it balance the strengths, weaknesses, needs and resources of government and business in protecting critical infrastructures. It merely acknowledged the need to share information in unspecified ways with the private sector as well as with state and local governments.

I must say, Im disappointed. I really thought our government was going to get busy developing a new way to engage the private sectorand CSOs as the accountable parties in such a partnership. The post-9/11 months have certainly demonstrated the private sectors need for more accurate and actionable information from the government so we can make more focused security decisions. And CSOs may have information critical to the public sectors timely awareness of threat and risk, precisely because we are on the front lines.

CSOs have been busting their butts to get someone in the DHS to recognize that they exist as a constituency. Its long past time for a meaningful dialogue among the DHS, the FBI, other government agencies and Americas CSOs.

Before writing this piece, I searched for information to counter my own concerns. I found a quote in Government Executive magazine from Alfonso Martinez-Fonts Jr., the assistant secretary for Private Sector Coordination at the DHS. Seems hes been making the rounds in Washington, meeting with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers, the Council on Competitiveness and The Business Roundtable. Im glad Alfonso is venturing so far from the office; clearly, hell get the real poop from that proximity.

Hes talking to the same organizations that have recently reported no appreciable increase in security funding due to terrorismor other concerns, for that matter. And Martinez-Fonts conclusion from these meetings? Differences between the department and the business community can be reconciled. Boy, am I relieved. Who Do You Trust?
Im not one to mince words. The DHS and our national security apparatus haveor ought to havethe ability to share with the private sector information on emerging and immediate threats. I know that its early in the life of the DHS, and I recognize the challenge Secretary Tom Ridge has in consolidating so many government agencies to focus on domestic terrorism. But aside from some high-level engagement of selected sector ISACs and the newly announced initiative targeting money laundering, I havent seen any effort to engage CSOs or to address the risks confronting the private sector. The DHSs outreach has been to state and local governments that are screaming about the alert process and resulting overtime costs of their police departments.