By Laura DeKoven Waxman
August 10, 2009

The Department of Homeland Security is undertaking its first Quadrennial Homeland Security Review. Required by Congress, the QHSR is intended to establish the strategic foundation for homeland security activities over the next four year. DHS believes that the maximum involvement of city officials and other homeland security stakeholders is critical to the success of this review, and has asked the Conference of Mayors to encourage mayors and other appropriate city officials to participate in the process.

DHS has identified six topics to be reviewed through the QHSR:

• Counterterrorism and Domestic Security Management

• Securing Our Borders

• Smart and Tough Enforcement of Immigration Laws

• Preparing for, Responding to, and Recovering from Disasters

• Homeland Security National Risk Assessment

• Homeland Security Planning and Capabilities

The Department has established a Web site (http://www.homelandsecuritydialogue.org) where stakeholders from around the nation will have the opportunity to comment on the initial findings of the QHSR and offer new ideas. City officials are invited to go to the site to sign up for notification and to get additional information on the QHSR process. Posted on the site are the work products of the Department’s QHSR study groups. DHS cautions, however, that these materials are works-in-progress, not final vetted DHS policy.

The Department is running three week-long online collaboration sessions, and each subsequent session will incorporate and build on the input received in the earlier sessions. The first session ran August 3-9. The second session will run August 31 through September 6, and the third will run September 28 through October 4.