DHS promotes ‘Open Government’ with its new online participation tool

Here are a few of the ideas that have been posted on the new DHS “online participation tool,” which DHS is making available as part of President Obama’s push for more “open government”:

• Engage DHS alumni in discussions and special projects. “I’m sure that a certain percentage of alumni would not only be willing to share information, but may even volunteer for special projects and/or disasters,” wrote one contributor.
• “DHS should run more public dialogues like the one they did for the Quadrennial Homeland Security Review,” suggested another writer.
• “We need to secure the borders and not just the Texas-California border but our maritime border with Cuba,” suggested a third.

These ideas and many others are being gathered on a new Web page, called OpenHomelandSecurity – Share Your Ideas, which DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano launched on February 8.

“Creating an open, transparent, more efficient and effective government is one of our top priorities at the Department of Homeland Security,” said Napolitano, in a prepared statement. “This new online tool allows the public to play a major part in our Department-wide efforts to enhance openness and accessibility.”

President Obama issued a government-wide Open Government Directive last December to “begin breaking down long-standing barriers between the federal government and the people it serves,” said the DHS press release.

The new DHS online tool will be available to gather ideas and suggestions from members of the public between February 6 and March 19. Visitors are empowered to rate each individual idea with a “thumbs up” or a “thumbs down,” and the “most popular” suggestions can be reviewed easily.

The three-legged goal of this Open Government campaign is to foster “transparency” (providing information about what the government is doing), “participation” (allowing the public to contribute ideas and expertise) and “collaboration” (encouraging partnerships and cooperation across levels of government, and between government and private institutions.)

DHS says it will develop and publish an Open Government Plan by early April that will improve transparency and integrate public participation into its activities.