QHSR Bloggers Round Table – 8-31-09

Yesterday afternoon I took part in a Bloggers Round Table with DHS Deputy Assistant Secretary Alan Cohn discussing the QHSR Dialogue that re-started yesterday. This round table was part of the Department’s public outreach program trying to encourage public participation in the Dialogue. QHSR Dialogue Background Secretary Cohn started out the conversation with a review of the first Dialogue that took part in early August. In that Dialogue the QHSR Study Groups provided some draft goals for the Department and the public was asked to rate and comment upon those goals. During the registration process the visitors self-identified themselves as to their background. The largest group identified was ‘General Public’ followed closely by ‘Federal Government’. While Cohn did not give us the exact numbers (which I have been hoping to see on their web site) it does seem that the Department has at least partially achieved its goal of gaining public participation in the QHSR process. According to Cohn there were over 8200 ‘unique visitors’ to the QHSR Dialogue site during the first week. It did not look like most of those visitors were active participants. In a quick review of the voting on the Counterterrorism and Domestic Security ideas showed a maximum of 13 ‘votes’ for any one of the ideas. Combine that with the fact that there was only a total of about 200 ‘ideas’ submitted to the site and you see that while there was wide spread participation, the depth of that participation was lacking. Goals for 2nd Dialogue Secretary Cohn addressed this situation by noting that the Department was trying to get even wider and significantly more participative public involvement in the 2nd Dialogue this week. As I noted in yesterday’s blog this Dialogue involves rating the goals and objectives that were winnowed from the first Dialogue. The Department is also actively looking for ‘ideas’ on how the Department and the country can achieve those goals. This goals and objectives in this Dialogue definitely show the effects of comments received during the first iteration. Goals were re-worded to be clearer and more explicit. According to Cohn the Department made a specific attempt to tighten up the ‘lexicon’ used in the various sections so that the same words and phrases mean the same thing across the site. My least favorite weasel-worded phrase ‘man made hazards’ was removed completely. There was one area where the lexicon was deliberately not ‘tightened-up’ was with the term ‘resiliency’. DHS would like to see a discussion of what resiliency means to the various communities served by the Department. Since it is such a popular political term it is one that does need to discussed. Improving the Tool Secretary Cohn told us that the Department was actively reading what is being written in the blogosphere about the Dialogue. One of the reasons for this is that they are looking for the feedback that bloggers and their readers have provided to improve the site. One of the problems identified in this blog (the inability to cut and paste comments from word processing programs) has been specifically addressed in the latest version of the web site. DHS has also provided a direct feed back mechanism, so that complaints, comments and suggestions can be sent directly to the Department by clicking on the ‘Comments’ link on the bottom of each page. This takes one to a form that can be filled out by commenter. It will probably not result in changes to this week’s Dialogue (changes do take time after all), but there is still a third Dialogue to come and DHS intends to use this type tool in future QHSR’s. DHS Shill While not wanting to sound like part of the DHS PR department, I certainly recommend that anyone with an interest in any of the extended activities of the Department log onto the Dialogue web site and participate in both rating the goals/objectives listed and participate in the various discussions. It is not often that an individual or private company gets a chance, however small, in helping a cabinet level Department of the Federal Government set it’s goals and objectives for the next four years. If you don’t participate in the current QHSR it will be four years before you get your next chance. Readers of this blog, in particular, need to participate. The Department is in the process of putting together and implementing a number of chemical security programs across the wide scope of the Department’s enforcement authority. Take advantage of this opportunity to discuss how you would like to see the Department operate in these areas. I certainly have/will.