ASIS will provide Ridge’s department with access to more than 27,000 security professionals in the U.S., many of them responsible for protecting life and property in private corporations and other institutions that are parts of our national critical infrastructures.
This fully operational, cross-agency, cross-sector, cross-discipline program is based on a system developed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), another partner in the venture. It is being deployed in four pilot communities. Dallas and Seattle are the first; Indianapolis and Atlanta will follow in August and September, respectively. ASIS members will not only participate in information exchange with federal authorities; some will be named to “governance boards” overseeing the system’s operations regionally and locally.
“We in ASIS view this program as one of the ‘crown jewels’ in our productive and growing relationship with the US Department of Homeland Security,” said Shirley Pierini, ASIS President. “It is the kind of public-private partnership that we have espoused for a long time, and we particularly appreciate the fact that it links DHS directly with the people in the private sector who most need, and can best act upon, information regarding terrorism.”
The system uses readily available technology, including telephones, computers, faxes, and the Internet. ASIS members in pilot communities will be sent alerts and information on terrorism-related incidents and issues directly through multiple channels depending on the urgency of the threat. This does not mean that every ASIS member will receive every communication; the system is able to target information to recipients in specified critical infrastructures and geographic areas. As one of its priorities, ASIS has over the past two years reconfigured its membership database to make it more responsive to DHS’s needs. ASIS members in areas outside the pilot programs will be integrated into HSIN-CI as quickly as other areas are added to the network.
