DHS CIKR Web Page Update 11-27-09

Last week DHS updated their new CIKR web page, and I missed it. Actually, I had a reader from DHS point it out to me because some of the changes that were made were inspired by a blog posting here. If it weren’t for that pointer, I would have missed the changes completely. To be fair, this is a complex web site, with a huge number of links to DHS web pages that would be useful to the Critical Infrastructure Key Resources (CIKR) community. This is one of those pages where a date on the bottom of the page showing the latest update would be beneficial. I understand that DHS is still working on getting that change implemented on this page. An important note: DHS has set this up as one of the pages where you can sign up for email updates when the page changes, a tool I highly recommend. DHS took my suggestion and added a link to the Laws & Regulations web page for Counterterrorism. I missed it because they added it to the listing on the right margin instead of the body of the text. DHS still doesn’t have a web page for VCAT (the Voluntary Chemical Assessment Tool), but they did add a link to the Methodology Technical Implementation web page where that tool is described. This is a tool that I have recommended a number of times for chemical facilities that are not covered under CFATS. Hopefully, DHS will promote this tool by adding a web page of its own to their site. As one would expect, DHS was not just acting on my suggestions for web page improvements. They made number of other additions to the page to provide links to additional information including a link to the Committees & Working Groups page. Two new document links are listed under Key Publications; Use of Physical Security Performance Measures, and ISC Best Practices for Safe Mail Handling. The former would be a useful reference for all chemical facilities. DHS also provided a link to the 2010 Chemical Sector Security Summit web page. Unfortunately, most readers will probably miss this link because it is imbedded in one of the five pictures shown in the slide show at the top of the page. The picture is clearly about the summit, but it is the third picture in the series and only very web savvy users will be likely to look to pictures for links. Having said that, this is a popular technique used on an increasing number of web sites, so maybe I’m just showing my age. All in all this is a valuable informational web page for the CIKR community. Making these changes to the page so soon after the page’s introduction continues to demonstrate the commitment of DHS to communicate with the people they serve and protect. I hope they continue their efforts to keep this web page (and many other valuable pages) up to date.