Chapter update for March 2010

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Previous podcasts are available by selecting the applicable update listed in the Categories under Chapter Updates.

FBI Anonymous Cyber Survey

The Houston FBI field office requested the Houston InfraGard Chapter to participate in an anonymous Cyber Survey.  All members are encouraged to complete the survey and mail (without name/address, or any identifiers) to our FBI Coordinator whose address is listed on the Leadership tab of the website.  Click here for the link to the survey.  The results of the survey will be posted sometime after June.

Gulf South Hurricane Response Multi-State Full Scale Exercise

The Houston Chapter will be participating in the Two-thousand-Ten Gulf South Hurricane Response Multi-State Full Scale Exercise in conjunction with the InfraGard National Members Alliance, the National Sheriff’s Association and various State Sheriff’s Associations, critical infrastructure and private sector firms.   The exercise will be held on Galveston Island on April 6th, and include several Houston chapter members.  We’ll report back next month on the results of the exercise.

Volunteer opportunities

Please see the Sponsors/Volunteers tab for more information on opportunities and a link to the Volunteer Registration form.  We have a number of initiatives that are currently being considered and will post the information when it is available.

Port of Houston field trip

We had a tour and briefing at the US Coast Guard facility on the Houston Ship Channel in March and were provided an excellent behind the scenes look at how the US Coast Guard protects the third largest port in the nation.  The tour included a visit to the Vessel Tracking Center (VTC) and the Command Center.  The tour was completed by visiting the boat basin and boarding a 25 foot patrol boat for an orientation on the capabilities of the boat and how it helps protect our waterways.

DHS funding proposal

The Houston Chapter submitted two proposals to the INMA which included initiatives for Critical Infrastructure and Key Resource Collaboration and Malware Public Intelligence Analysis.  Both projects include outreach to the CIKR community and higher education

Quarterly meeting

Our next quarterly meeting will be held on Thursday, May 13th at the National Weather Service/Galveston County Office of Emergency Management in League City.  We will be provided a briefing on the upcoming Hurricane Season, and a tour of both the NWS and the GCOEM.  Please refer to the event tab on the website for details and directions.

Online training

We have posted a link to the  Adaptive Cyber-Security Training Online courses are now available on the TEEX Domestic Preparedness Campus.  Over the next several months we will also be posting additional relevant webinars and training programs on the event calendar.

Sector Chiefs

We are rolling out our Sector Chief program.  If you are interested in becoming a Sector Chief please see the sponsor and volunteer tab for additional details.  The goal is to enable communication in smaller workgroups, and target communications to those who need to know.  It also provides a point person for the sector to other authorities.  We intend to provide "blog" space for each Sector Chief to provide late breaking information relative to critical infrastructure protection.Hope to see you at our next meeting. 

I’m Bob Janusaitis, and we'll talk to you next month.