Wednesday, April 13, 2011

The Language of Homeland Security

One of the essentials of successful Federal business is to understand your customer. The objectives, the priorities, and the policies of an agency are key factors in successfully aligning your approach to their requirements. A winning company will read the Agency Strategic Plan, their IT Strategy, and other fundamental statements found on the Agency website. Meeting with key personnel to elicit their views is one way to get a handle on the agency’s foundations.
Another is to analyze those key documents that are found on the agency Homepage. The Department of Homeland Security, like most agencies, posts not only the policy documents mentioned above, but also speeches by senior officials as well as testimony delivered to Congress. Quantified Perception has analyzed the major documents on the DHS site, and has developed a vocabulary for the department, including identifying key phrases used frequently. This “language of DHS” can assist you in positioning your company and honing your message to fit the Department’s own musings.

DHS Vocabulary
Although skewed slightly due to the number of agency heads testifying on the budget submission, this list spans most of DHS’s major components and includes speeches by the Secretary and other senior officials.

The ten most frequently used words across all documents are:

CIKR
information
protection
sector
risk
management
planning
programs
border
partners


“CIKR” refers to the critical infrastructure and key resources, a frequent reference in the National Infrastructure Protection Plan (NIPP), which is the longest document included in this analysis. The other top ten words give more insight. “Sector” tells you that DHS divides their world into component areas, generally by agency responsibility, and looks at government as a series of interrelated entities. This will be confirmed when we examine phrases. “Risk” and “management” are an integral part of the process of security, and we can expect their frequencies to be related. Ignoring “border” for a moment, “planning”, programs”, and “partners” indicate the Department’s penchant for organization and structure. “Border[s]” are clearly a major concern of the Department, but this may be exaggerated due to a speech on Southwest border protection, which increases the frequency of the use of this word.

By just looking at the most frequently used words in the Department’s web documents tells you that DHS is inclined towards process and structure – with five of the ten words indicative of relationships and actions: sector, planning, programs, border, and partners, and arguably , management as well.

What happens when we look at repeated phrases?


DHS Phrases
“CIKR” continues to be highlighted, as a key term within the NIPP, now accompanied by “protection.” But there is common “CIKR protection…” consistency (beyond two words.) The focus on structure and process continues, with multiple levels of government – federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial – used repetitively. As expected, “risk management” is a common phrasing, as is “information sharing” [across government levels?] “Southwest border” is a topic discussed in 10 of the 30 documents analyzed, including speeches and a speech on the specific topic plus budget testimony on the Southwest Border Initiative. It is also noteworthy that there is reference to “public and private [sector]” and “private sector partners”, indicating an inclusive approach and recognition that not all homeland security is Departmental.
There is a penchant for conjunctive formations that a company should be aware of and perhaps mirror in its writing to DHS. “Departments and agencies”, “systems and networks”, “response and recovery” and others provide a cadence to DHS writing (and speaking) that you would want to emulate in a proposal or whitepaper.


2 Word Phrases
Count

3 Word Phrases
Count
CIKR protection
668

owners and operators
138
private sector
410

state local tribal
105
law enforcement
261

risk management framework
101
information sharing
238

infrastructure protection plan
84
risk management
227

departments and agencies
80
urban areas
194

systems and networks
72
coast guard
170

private sector partners
71
southwest border
153

response and recovery
70



levels of government
60
4 Word Phrases
Count

public and private
57
states and urban areas
96



national infrastructure protection plan
84

5 Word Phrases
Count
state local and tribal
78

federal state local and tribal
30
assets systems and networks
64

respond to and recover from
27
NIPP risk management framework
54

state and local law enforcement
27
CIKR owners and operators
53

steps of the risk management
27
all levels of government
40

other federal departments and agencies
25
public and private sector
40

private sector owners and operators
20
along the southwest border
38

protective programs and resiliency strategies
20
CIKR protection and resiliency
31

identify assets systems and networks
19
government and private sector
28

national CIKR protection annual report
19
respond to and recover
27

public and private sector partners
18



government and the private sector
17



at all levels of government
15



civil rights and civil liberties
15



national strategy to secure cyberspace
15





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