The primary network used by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to securely share unclassified information with its partners at the federal, state, local, and territorial levels had significant growth in users last year, with the majority of them satisfied that the network exceeds their expectations most of the time.
DHS says in a report on Monday that that the 12-year old Homeland Security Information Network (HSIN) gained more than 20,000 new certified users in FY ’15, rising from 32,813 to 53,231, a 62 percent increase in the user population.
The increased user base means more sharing opportunities, and more ideas and best practices going around, DHS says.
“By expanding the HSIN community, homeland security partners have been able to find new ways to collaborate and achieve their operational goals,” the co-chairs of the HSIN Executive Steering Committee, Michael Potts, deputy under secretary for Intelligence & Analysis, and Frank DiFalco, deputy director for DHS Operations and Planning, say in the preface to the online report.
The report says that 33 percent of users say the “unique value” the network provides them is it “lets me quickly and securely access all the information systems I need to perform my mission,” a 4 percent hike from a year ago. It also says that 22 percent say the unique value “is a secure network that lets me connect with a wide variety of homeland security operators from across the nation.”
In addition to the increase in new users, DHS says there was a 27 percent increase in daily unique logins to the network last year to more than 1,400. The most popular feature on the network remains the HSIN Connect portal that allows real-time collaboration among users, with a 55 percent increase in “meeting rooms” used in FY ’15 over FY ’14. The report says 37 percent of users selected HSIN Connect as their most used feature.
The largest number of users of the HSIN hail from the federal sector, which make up 46 percent of the user base, followed by state, local and territorial with 37 percent, and the private sector with 15 percent. International and tribal users each make up a percent.
In terms of supporting user mission needs, respondents put training at the top with 18 percent, planning coordination next with 16 percent, followed by incident response with 14 percent. The next two responses in terms of ranking were administrative functions, 12 percent, and investigative support, 9 percent.