3.1: Tools to Improve Transparency

Embrace evolving technologies, harnessing the power of social media to improve and enhance transparency of operations

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The Department embraces evolving technologies, harnessing the power of social media to improve and enhance transparency of operations. Current and developing communication channels utilized by the Department empower citizens, educate communities, and foster unity of effort. 3.1.1 Transparency on the Official Department Website To support the Open Government Directive, the Department’s Open Government Plan, and the ongoing efforts to grow a culture of openness throughout the broad-based community with a common interest in public safety, DHS.gov serves as the official and all-encompassing repository for information about the Department. The Web site hosts a customer satisfaction survey to create a user-centric experience, and the Web management team considers the analytics of DHS.gov carefully, making adjustments to improve the user satisfaction. The DHS.gov home page and subsequent landing pages have top-user tasks at the forefront to help users find key information quickly. DHS.gov is a resource for operational updates, Department and program history, current events and incident communications. The site also details Web content protocol for the Department, a style guide and all appropriate access and compliance expectations to ensure all content is widely available. 3.1.2 Transparency Using Social Media The Department uses "Web 2.0" social media technologies and Web sites to provide robust information through many channels. In the coming months, the Department will utilize an online public engagement tool to conduct focused discussions, coordinate the use of new media tools among Federal agencies during incidents, and host blogger roundtables to better engage the blogosphere and emerging online journalists. Also to come, the Department will utilize DHS blogs to better respond to current events, increasing public engagement through blog posts. 3.1.3 Leveraging Federal Transparency Websites As a member of the greater Federal community, DHS recognizes the importance of government-wide tools to promote transparency. These tools provide the Department with an easy outlet to make data available to the public and promote valuable cross-agency comparisons. 3.1.4 Records Management as a Transparency Tool The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) outlines the transparency requirements government agencies must follow. Subsection (a) (2) requires each agency to make four distinct categories of records affirmatively available for “public inspection and copying.” The Chief Privacy Officer serves as the Chief FOIA Officer for DHS and has Department-wide policy responsibility for efficient and appropriate compliance with FOIA. On August 26, 2009, DHS Chief Privacy Officer Mary Ellen Callahan issued the Proactive Disclosure Memorandum to inform the proactive disclosure process. In that memo, Ms. Callahan directed the Department to include the following categories of records on their agency websites and link them to their respective electronic reading rooms: * Historical daily schedules of the most senior agency officials (notated to reflect that officials may have deviated from the posted schedule and abridged as appropriate for security and privacy concerns) * Executed contracts & grants * Management Directives and instructions * Congressional correspondence under DHS control * FOIA logs * Any records released pursuant to a FOIA request that have been, or are likely to become, the subject of three or more requests The Department hosts the public records in electronic reading rooms on the Internet. Available electronic reading rooms for DHS are: * Headquarters * Citizenship and Immigration Services * Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties * United States Coast Guard * Customs and Border Protection * Federal Emergency Management Agency * Federal Law Enforcement Training Center * Immigration and Customs Enforcement * Office of the Inspector General * United States Secret Service * Transportation Security Administration 3.1.5 Records Management Staff, Structure, and Process for FOIA The Director of Disclosure and FOIA reports directly to the Chief Privacy Officer and leads the headquarters FOIA team. The Director ensures FOIA policies are in place throughout the Department and manages FOIA and Privacy Act (PA) requests for records maintained by DHS senior management offices. 3.1.6 Plans To Reduce Backlogs Timely publication of information is vital, and the Department does not view delays as an inevitable and insurmountable consequence of high demand. The Department recently shifted its focus from by-request FOIA services to a more proactive approach for sharing information. The FOIA Web site hosts detailed information on how DHS processes requests, details how to submit a FOIA request, and links to the FOIA Electronic Reading Room. FOIA processing occurs at each of the Department’s components in a decentralized manner. Contact information for DHS FOIA Officers is available on the Privacy & FOIA website. FOIA requires a response to requests within 20 business days after the responsive component receives the request, and these responses are generally processed on a first in, first out basis. Following the creation of the Department, the newness and the complex mission of the agency prompted many inquiries and FOIA requests. These requests were received in addition to the considerable FOIA backlog inherited from the existing agencies that merged into DHS. As of September 15, 2006, the DHS-wide backlog was 98,103. Over the past four years, DHS decreased its FOIA backlog by 81% and the FY 2009 DHS Annual FOIA Report documents 18,918 backlogged requests Department-wide. In order to reduce the FOIA request backlog at DHS by a minimum of 10% each year, each component receives a monthly goal, setting the number of requests that must be processed in that month. The goals, individually tailored to each component, use the average number of requests received per month and the upper limits of the component’s processing capacity. Meeting these goals keeps the Department on track to reduce the FOIA backlog in accordance with the Directive. 3.1.7 Declassification Program to Enhance Transparency Pursuant to Executive Order 13526 – Classified National Security Information, the Department routinely reviews information to affirm classification and to declassify when possible. Most information currently declassified by the Department resides in Presidential Libraries and the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), subject to external publication schedules. However, under Executive Order 13526, DHS participates in the newly created “National Declassification Center” (NDC) to streamline declassification processes, facilitate quality assurance measures, and implement standardized training across the Federal executive branch relative to the declassification of records with permanent historical value. DHS was an early proponent of the NDC, participating in the development and implementation of its processes and procedures with the end result of improved access to declassified records. In addition, the Department, and the entire executive branch, will enhance transparency relative to the identification and safeguarding of sensitive unclassified information through the development of and transition to a “Controlled Unclassified Information” (CUI) Framework. The CUI Framework is an executive branch initiative for a uniform system to identify and manage sensitive, unclassified information within the Federal executive branch and non-Federal information-sharing partners. Although the CUI Framework is an information protection regimen, it will also enhance transparency by defining the types of information that qualify for protections under the framework. These definitions, as well as the policies and processes associated with the program, will be publicly accessible. Under the direction of the President, policies for development and implementation of the CUI Framework are underway, and the Department is an enthusiastic advocate and active participant in these proceedings.

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