Executive Summary
What is
E-Government?
E-Government
Strategy
E-Government Strategy
Homeland Security
Overview:
The function of the Office of Homeland Security is to provide a unified organization of 22 previously disconnected agencies. This department is responsible for protecting the nation from all threats. The highest priority is to prevent further terrorist attacks. The Homeland Security Advisory System illustrates the current national level of the five possible terrorist threat levels.
Discussion:
The Homeland Security Advisory System was created to provide a vocabulary and structure to allow the many agencies to interact using common terms with common meanings. This system is valuable because it provides a unified current threat level for the nation and aids agencies in making local decisions to offset that threat. This service acts as a unifying agent to bring disparate groups together both through the internet and over traditional communication methods.
The Homeland Security page provides links to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Citizen Corps, and Freedom Corps. These links encourage citizens to be prepared, volunteer in their communities and to sign up to assist first responders in the event of local and national emergencies. With regards to Citizen Preparedness, the Ready.gov web page educates readers on what a person should do in preparation for a terrorist attack.
Homeland Security also contains The National Cyber Security Division. The August 2003 internet attack of the MSBlast worm, which affected common Microsoft software and caused an estimated 350,000 business and personal computers to shut down globally, was documented on this division�s web site. Detailed instructions with Windows screen shots for how to remove the worm and references to the Microsoft web site for patch files were included.
Analysis:
The service provided by these web pages is extremely valuable both to individual citizens and to the nation as a whole. By creating an empowered network of citizens, the psychological effect of terrorist threat can be mitigated for the individual through preparation and the nation benefits through readiness and back-up for first responders such as local police and fire agencies.
Recommendation:
The Homeland Security web-pages are well written, informative and do not appear to sensationalize the recent threats of the modern world. Interestingly, the news button for Weapons of Mass Destruction displays �No news at this time,� which is comforting. Overall, this site appears to serve its function well.
Links:
Advisory: http://www.whitehouse.gov/homeland
Preparedness http://www.ready.gov
Homeland Security http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/index.jsp
Dept. Home Sec: http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/theme_home1.jsp
ReadyGov http://www.ready.gov/
Cyber Security: http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/08/20030814.html
Microsoft: http://www.microsoft.com/security/incident/blast.asp.
Threat codes: http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/03/20020312-5.html
Freedom Corps: http://www.usafreedomcorps.gov/
Citizen Corps: http://www.citizencorps.gov/about.shtm