More on New DHS Web Site

Last week I noted that DHS had done an across the board upgrade of their web site. Most of the pages just had their content copied into a new format, so there was no real change in information. The concept of landing pages appears to have been done away with; two that I tracked in particular on chemical security and cybersecurity have disappeared.

Change Notification

As I noted earlier, DHS has done away with the update dates on the bottom of pages that allowed viewers to quickly determine if changes had been made to a page since it was last visited. DHS has continued to make email notification of page changes available on a limited number of pages. In the chemical security arena those pages include:

Critical Infrastructure – Chemical Security - http://www.dhs.gov/critical-infrastructure-chemical-security 

2012 Chemical Sector Security Summit - http://www.dhs.gov/2012-chemical-sector-security-summit

If you have an interest in either of these pages you should certainly sign up for this free service. The only problem that I have seen in the past is that it only provides notification for changes on the specific pages listed. It does not provide notice of changes made on linked pages.

Chemical Security Assessment Tool

The one page that I am extremely disappointed about the lack of email notification for changes is the page dealing with the Chemical Security Assessment Tool (CSAT). This is the single most important part of the CFATS web site for the regulated community and there appears to be no method of communicating changes to this portion of the site.

I am providing the listing of the CSAT web pages below. It includes the links to the latest versions of the various supporting documents (and those links are now active).

Chemical Security Assessment Tool - http://www.dhs.gov/chemical-security-assessment-tool  -

Register to Access CSAT - http://www.dhs.gov/register-access-csat

CSAT User Registration .PDF [10-11 V 5.1] - http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/chemsec_csatuserregismanual.pdf

Update My Information - http://www.dhs.gov/update-my-information

CSAT Account Management .PDF [04-11 V 2.1] - http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/chemsec_csatuseraccountmanage.pdf

CSAT Top Screen - http://www.dhs.gov/csat-top-screen

Appendix A [FR] - http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/chemsec_appendixa-chemicalofinterestlist.pdf

Top Screen for Fuels - http://www.dhs.gov/top-screen-submittal-requirements-fuels-except-propane-0

Top Screen for Propane [FR] - http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2008-03-21/html/08-1059.htm

Top Screen Questions .PDF [01-09 V 2.8] - http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/chemsec_csattopscreenquestions.pdf

Top Screen Users Manual .PDF [09-10 V 1.99] - http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/chemsec_csattopscreenusersmanual.pdf

CSAT Security Vulnerability Assessment - http://www.dhs.gov/csat-security-vulnerability-assessment

SVA Questions .PDF [06-08 V 1.0] - http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/chemsec_csat_sva_questions.pdf

SVA Instructions .PDF [01-11 V 2.1] - http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/chemsec-csatsva-instructions.pdf

CSAT Site Security Plan - http://www.dhs.gov/csat-site-security-plan

RBPS Guidance .PDF [05-09] - http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/chemsec-csatsva-instructions.pdf

RBPS Response to Comments .PDF - http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/chemsec_cfats_riskbased_performance_standards_comments_received.pdf

SSP Questions .PDF [06-11 V 2.0] - http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/chemsec_csat_ssp_questions.pdf

SSP Instructions .PDF [05-09 V 1.0] - http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/chemsec_csat_ssp_instructions.pdf

SSP Screen Shots .PDF - http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/chemsec_csat_ssp_screenshots.pdf

SSP Edit Process User Guide .PDF [10-10 V 0.7] - http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/chemsec_csatsspedit_userguide.pdf

Public Comments

DHS is using their successful public feedback program on IdeaScale.com. Comments can be submitted by joining the DHS Redesign community. The same site allows you to look at all of the comments on the design, report issues, and to suggest improvements (I just submitted asuggestion [NOTE: Link added 12:50 EDT 8-13-12] to add the review dates to each page).

These IdeaScale discussions have been very interesting in the past and I expect to see a lot of interesting ideas brought up. I just hope that DHS does a better job in responding to the ideas and suggestions about their web site than they have done in their previous projects on this site.