This InfoGram will be distributed weekly to provide members of the Emergency Services Sector with information concerning the protection of their critical infrastructures. For further information, contact the Emergency Management and Response - Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EMR-ISAC) at (301) 447-1325 or by email at emr-isac@fema.dhs.gov.
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Thousands of key Emergency Services Sector (ESS) personnel who were validated to receive and open “For Official Use Only” (FOUO) documents disseminated by the Emergency Management and Response—Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EMR-ISAC) have been notified of their migration to the Homeland Security Information Network (HSIN) Emergency Services Information Sharing (ESIS) Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) community (HSIN-ESIS-CUI). This migration occurred throughout the month of November, because the Department of Homeland Security—Interactive System (DHSI) has discontinued operation on 30 November.
As of the date of this InfoGram, many individuals who were sent instructions to complete the migration have not done so. The EMR-ISAC recognizes that in some instances personnel did not receive the directions because their spam blocker prevented them from receiving the messages. Occasionally, the email went straight to junk mail. In other cases, individuals inadvertently deleted the emails or have not yet responded.
If you were previously receiving the CIP (FOUO) Notices from this Center via emr-isac@govdelivery.com, and have not followed instructions to establish an account for the HSIN-ESIS-CUI community, you are encouraged to complete the migration process as soon as possible. However, if you did not receive the directions but should have, then send a message to the emr-isac@fema.dhs.gov requesting migration instructions.
Individuals who attempted to follow the instructions but experienced technical problems with the process (e.g., password, validation form doesn’t work) should contact the HSIN help desk at their toll-free number: 866-430-0162.
It is important to understand that the sensitive “FOUO” information distributed by the EMR-ISAC may one day make a major difference in your emergency plans and operations. Therefore, it would be prudent to accomplish the migration and continue receiving and reviewing the documents archived in the new HSIN community of interest (i.e., portal) dedicated to the Emergency Services Sector.
Any questions or concerns about the migration should be directed to the EMR-ISAC at emr-isac@fema.dhs.gov or at 301-447-1325. Additionally, ESS personnel (e.g., law enforcement, fire, EMS, emergency management, 9-1-1) in leadership, management, or supervisory positions who have not been receiving the FOUO notices should also contact the EMR-ISAC to initiate arrangements for appropriate access.
Additional information about the migration from the Department of Homeland Security—Interactive (DHSI) System to HSIN-ESIS-CUI can be seen in a 22 November Frequently Asked Questions document.
In their recent News Release, the National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC) stated that it is important for first responders to know how to effectively communicate the needs of their emergency services to elected officials in order to gain their support on critical issues. To help in these efforts, the NVFC released the Guide to Communicating with Elected Officials(PDF, 1 Mb).
The Emergency Management and Response—Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EMR-ISAC) noted the Guide explains why grassroots advocacy is important, how the legislative process works, and provides tools to reach out to and educate elected officials on matters important to emergency services.
The Emergency Management and Response—Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EMR-ISAC) recently received the research brief, Building on Clues: Methods to Help State and Local Law Enforcement Detect and Characterize Terrorist Activity(PDF, 199 Kb), published by the Institute for Homeland Security Solutions (IHSS).
The Institute is a research consortium established to conduct applied research in the social and behavioral sciences to address a wide range of homeland security challenges. The consortium focuses on developing near-term solutions to practical, real world problems including an understanding and analysis of homeland security threats.
This particular research concentrates on describing methods for finding and analyzing information indicating potential terrorist activity. Within this context, the paper addresses the following two central challenges:
The EMR-ISAC acknowledges the focus of the research is on the role of state and local law enforcement agencies in terrorism prevention; however, the information presented is also relevant to federal agencies tasked with protecting American citizens and critical infrastructure.
The Emergency Management and Response—Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EMR-ISAC) learned that the National Hazmat Fusion Center (NHFC) recently unveiled a responder-driven data collection, analysis, and education Web portal as part of a collaborative effort between the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration and the International Association of Fire Chiefs. The mission of the NHFC is to enhance hazmat responder safety and improve decision making for responses to hazmat incidents.
The new portal is the central element of the NHFC, a free, voluntary, confidential, and secure Web-based portal that serves as a data and information network for hazmat teams; first responders; federal, state, and local agencies; and the private sector. According to urgentcomm.com, the Internet-based portal serves as a one-stop shop for hazmat-response information, including training packages, reports, incident-based case studies, statistics, trends, alerts, recommendations, and peer-to-peer networking. “It was designed with a consistent method of information collection to support information-sharing across jurisdictions and levels of government and to support individual and national-level needs.”
The EMR-ISAC observed that this secure incident-reporting system is available for hazmat teams to enter, manage, and analyze their own incident reports while letting the NHFC create a national picture of hazmat response and disseminate regional and national hazmat trends and statistics. There is a public and members-only private side to the Web portal.
The U.S. Fire Administration/EMR-ISAC does not endorse the organizations sponsoring linked websites, and does not endorse the views they express or the products/services they offer.
This INFOGRAM may contain copyrighted material that was not specifically authorized by the copyright owner. EMR-ISAC personnel believe this constitutes "fair use" of copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use copyrighted material contained within this document for your own purposes that go beyond "fair use," you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
DHS and the FBI encourage recipients of this document to report information concerning suspicious or criminal activity to DHS and/or the FBI. The DHS National Operation Center (NOC) can be reached by telephone at 202-282-9685 or by email at NOC.Fusion@dhs.gov.
The FBI regional phone numbers can be found online at www.fbi.gov/contact/fo/fo.htm
For information affecting the private sector and critical infrastructure, contact the National Infrastructure Coordinating Center (NICC), a sub-element of the NOC. The NICC can be reached by telephone at 202-282-9201 or by email at NICC@dhs.gov.
When available, each report submitted should include the date, time, location, type of activity, number of people and type of equipment used for the activity, the name of the submitting company or organization, and a designated point of contact.
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U.S. Fire Administration, 16825 S. Seton Ave., Emmitsburg, MD 21727 | USNG: 18SUJ00529652
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December 2, 2010 InfoGram