Allison Buchinski

When she stepped up to manage policy development and compliance for the Homeland SecurityInformation Network, Allison Buchinski took on a huge challenge. And she succeeded —spectacularly, according to her managers — with no formal training.

HSIN allows the Department of Homeland Security’s partners to share sensitive but unclassifiedinformation with one another so they can manage operations, analyze data, and send alerts andnotices.

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Buchinski’s work has been vital to ensuring that the more than 60,000 federal, state, local,territorial, tribal, international and private-sector HSIN users are protected under the Privacy Act,have well-defined rights and duties, and have a governance model that protects their interests andholds the HSIN Program Management Office accountable to its users.

She led the development and execution of dozens of privacy assessments and updated thecomplex, nuanced HSIN terms of service and model charter. Her managers said that without herefforts, the network would not have a functioning governance policy.

Buchinski can digest extremely complex technical and policy information and zero in on theareas that need attention and develop a plan of action. She has taken on increased responsibilitywithout hesitation and not only maintained operations but diligently worked to standardize andimprove processes in each area.

Her growing expertise and relentless efforts to push the program ahead have made her the “go-to” resource when federal and contractor employees need information or guidance on any aspectof HSIN.