U.S. Department of Homeland Security 
Washington, DC 20472 


Grant Programs Directorate Information Bulletin 
No. 317 
June 12, 2009 


TO: 
All State Administrative Agency Heads 

All State Administrative Agency Points of Contact 

All State Homeland Security Directors 

All Core City/Core County Points of Contact 

All State Emergency Management Agency Directors 

All Eligible Regional Transit Agencies 

All Private Sector Transportation Security Partners 

All Public and Private Sector Port Security Partners 

FROM: 
Timothy W. Manning 
Deputy Administrator 
National Preparedness 
Federal Emergency Management Agency 

W. Ross Ashley, III 
Assistant Administrator 
Grant Programs Directorate 
Federal Emergency Management Agency 
SUBJECT: 
Proposed Migration of the FEMA Secure Portal to the Department of Homeland 
Security (DHS) Homeland Security Information Network (HSIN) (Message # 1) 

The FEMA Secure Portal (https://preparednessportal.dhs.gov) has provided States and territories 
with a means for collaborating and sharing Sensitive But Unclassified (SBU) information with 
the National Preparedness Directorate (NPD) and Grant Programs Directorate (GPD) in support 
of homeland security training, exercises, technical assistance, grants, and infrastructure 
protection programs. This Information Bulletin provides preliminary information about FEMA’s 
plan to migrate Secure Portal user accounts and program-owned information to the Homeland 
Security Information Network (HSIN). The DHS Office of Operations Coordination and 
Planning (DHS OPS) is upgrading the information sharing and collaboration capabilities of 
HSIN to better support partner requirements across all levels of government and the private 
sector. NPD and GPD propose to transfer all SBU information sharing from the Secure Portal to 
HSIN in order to meet a DHS mandate to streamline information sharing systems. 

NPD and GPD invite State and territory stakeholders to actively participate in this process. In 
coordination with FEMA, the HSIN Outreach team will research the needs of States and 

www.fema.gov 


territories to set up and implement Communities of Interest (COIs) in HSIN and to prepare for 
training users and COI administrators. New COIs, including those for States and territories, will 
need to be established in HSIN to replace all active Secure Portal organizations. Over the 
coming weeks, HSIN Outreach staff will schedule stakeholder participation for COI 
implementation, State/territory acceptance testing, and user and COI administrator training. 
FEMA will provide further detailed transition information to stakeholders through additional 
Information Bulletins, as well as through Secure Portal alerts and emails. The forthcoming 
information will include an implementation timeline, activation procedures for Portal users, 
training information and schedules, and a Frequently Asked Questions reference. 

Questions regarding the HSIN transition should be directed to the CSID helpdesk at 1-800-3686498 
or via e-mail at askcsid@dhs.gov.