As a Southerner, I am well aware of the truth found in the idiom, “Haste makes waste.”

Unfortunately, the Department of Homeland Security apparently does not quite understand this. It continues to quickly develop programs just to say it is doing something, rather than taking a little more time to assure that such programs are developed properly and with the necessary input.

An example can be found in its quick release of the Homeland Security Information Network (HSIN), a homeland security information-sharing application that operates on the public Internet. The department touts this program as its primary vehicle for communicating sensitive information on terrorist threats and suspicious activities to state and local entities and the private sector.

In the Homeland Security Act, the department was tasked with coordinating the federal government’s homeland security communications with all levels of government, the private sector and the public.

The HSIN, costing $75 million for fiscal years 2005 and 2006, was tasked with addressing the gaps in our security efforts — effective information sharing. It is one of the department’s 11 information-sharing networks, which collectively cost, during those same two years, $611.8 million.

It is a no-brainer that improved information sharing assists our communities in responding to threats and natural disasters. It also assures that limited resources at the state and local level are used in a cost-effective manner. Ironically, it seems that the department could have benefited from some basic information sharing with state and local governments before implementing an information-sharing network to service these same entities.

Consequently, the HSIN is a system that is neither particularly useful nor trusted by state and local users, i.e., those who were to be the final users of the HSIN. The network was rushed into operation without sufficient input from those who would be using it, resulting in a system that fails to meet the needs of its users, duplicates other efforts and is not trusted.

For example, as the Government Accountability Office found last month, the department has failed to work with existing programs, including the Regional Information Sharing Systems (RISS), which provides information to law enforcement and first responders. Indeed, not only did the department not cooperate with the RISS, it failed to even inventory what other types of initiatives were already in existence.

If we are to protect our nation’s security, it must be a cooperative effort. State and local officials, as well as the private sector, are the ones on the front line of our homeland security. If we are to have effective information sharing, bureaucrats in Washington must start listening and asking questions. The department must start querying state and local organizations on their existing initiatives and develop better collaborative and coordinating tools. Anything less will leave our nation with programs developed in a vacuum that cost taxpayer dollars and leave us all at risk.


Thompson is the chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security.