HSIN Site Admin Weekly Update

HSIN was deployed to nearly 500 patrol officers, investigators and administrators in advance of the recent Hells Angels USA Run rally in Rockford, IL. Federal, state and local law enforcement all came together to use the chat interface, file tool and message boards in HSIN Connect in order to secure the event of more than 1,000 attendees. “In my 24 years in being involved in multi-jurisdictional law enforcement operations, I found HSIN Connect to be a very useful incident-based information and intelligence sharing tool,” remarked Illinois State Police Investigations Commander Captain Jim Winters. “HSIN was widely used and praised from the patrol officers to the chiefs as a practical way to connect multiple agencies.” If you’re interested in learning more about the successful operation in Rockford, IL and how you might be able to use HSIN to manage large events in your area, please contact Illinois Fusion Center (Statewide Terrorism & Intelligence Center) Director Lt. Eric Wolf at eric_wolf@isp.state.il.us.

Got an idea to share with fellow HSIN users?  Need help developing a HSIN solution? Check out the new HUWG Best Practices site on HSIN Central! You can find it easily in the top navigation bar (between Training and FAQs). The site includes a “Can You Help?” discussion thread, an “Idea of the Month” library, a “Tips and Tricks” library, and a “You Can Call, Call on Us” list of HSIN Outreach leaders, Mission Advocates, and HUWG members. We hope to include your suggestions as we grow the site into a lively town square for HSIN members.  First question on the site: how to streamline the nomination/validation process.

RSVP Today! Sept 26 HSIN R3 Launch Celebration

With just a little over one week to go, it’s time to reserve your in-person or virtual attendance for the HSIN R3 Launch Celebration! Please RSVP to sarah.schwettman@hq.dhs.gov noting an in-person or virtual attendance preference. Light refreshments – including celebration cake – will be served.

When: September 26, 9 a.m. – 11 a.m. EST
Where: Crystal City, Virginia and via HSIN Connect
Who: All are WELCOME!

Speakers include:

• Richard Chavez, Director, DHS Office of Operations Coordination and Planning
• Margie Graves, Acting Chief Information Officer, DHS Office of Chief Information Officer
• Bill Tarry, Principal Deputy Under Secretary, DHS Office of Intelligence and Analysis
  
• Caitlin A. Durkovich, Assistant Secretary for DHS Infrastructure Protection National Protection and Programs Directorate
  
• Charles Werner, Chief of Charlottesville, VA, Fire Department
• Donna Roy, HSIN Program Director

On the heels of a very successful migration, we’re looking to enhance the way we communicate and interact with you. Now is the time to figure out the best way to provide information that you can pass on to your site users as well as keep you informed of HSIN improvements and updates. We’d like to know your thoughts on the information we’re providing, the methods we’re using to communicate with you, and even the frequency of updates. We would also like to know how you use the updates we send and how you distribute that information to your site users. In short, we want to make our communications with you useful, informative and just the way you like them. Please let us know your thoughts and feedback at HSIN.Outreach@hq.dhs.gov in the next two weeks as we start building the next stage of HSIN communications. Thanks!