In a Nov. 17 letter to DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff, the two senators expressed concern that, one year after Hurricane Katrina tore into the Gulf coast, DHA has done little to bolster "situational awareness" during disasters. As a result, first responders are most likely still unable to provide key DHS personnel with a coherent picture of what's happening on the ground during a disaster.
Lieberman and Collins said they are looking into whether the systems that have been implemented were "ineffectively introduced, under-utilized, and/or may lack the necessary protocols to develop accurate situational awareness reports."
Collins is currently the chairwoman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, and Lieberman is the committee's ranking Democrat. Lieberman will take over as chairman of the committee when the new Congress takes office in January.
According to the senators, one of the department's major initiatives to bolster information sharing after the Katrina disaster, the Common Operating Picture (COP) database, is not being fully utilized.
"Briefings from DHS staff and reports from the DHS Inspector General indicate that the Homeland Security Information Network (HSIN), of which COP is a part, is hugely under-utilized," the senators said in the letter. "While 18,000 first responders have registered for the network, less than 6% regularly use it, and DHS has done little to inform first responders about the COP or to train them how to use it."
The senators said that for COP to work, DHS must work out a protocol for how information submitted to the database will actually be compiled, analyzed and prioritized to keep key officials updated with conditions during emergencies.
One of the major goals of the creation of the department was having the ability to "connect the dots," according to the senators. They said the Homeland Security Operations Center (HSOC) was a major component in implementing that goal and was designed to serve as a nerve center for information sharing and domestic incident management. But it failed, they said, during its first major test: Hurricane Katrina.
The senators said that despite changes DHS has made, they remain concerned that not enough has been done to ensure improved federal management of the next catastrophic disaster, which, they said, will overwhelm state and local resources.
In the letter the senators asked Chertoff to explain what the department is doing to address their concerns. DHS officials could not be reached for comment.