April 16, 2007 • Volume 5 • Number 4
True Information Sharing Requires A True Trust Relationship
“There has to be a trust relationship across the board,” says Karen Evans, Administrator of E-Government and Information Technology at OMB.
Evans explains that “we are asking for agencies to put trust in other agencies to deliver services better than you can do it yourself in their areas of expertise.” For Information Sharing to be ultimately successful, changes are necessary because agencies are used to doing and providing services for themselves.
“The real challenge that I see is moving from the theoretical to the real implementation and operation,” declares Dr. Carter Morris, Director, Information Sharing & Knowledge Management Intelligence and Analysis at DHS.
“You are talking about autonomy versus authority in many cases. How that affects your decision making and culture,” adds Dale Meyerrose, CIO at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
“When we make decisions about either systems or process or organization, we have to take into account those partners and stakeholders and users, if you will, because what we produce is not for ourselves, but for them as well.” According to Meyerrose giving up autonomy means taking other views into account before making a decision.
“That doesn’t necessarily mean that you give up authority. But giving up autonomy is key to collectively making us better for sharing information.”
Evans, Morris and Meyerrose made their comments during the Federal Executive Forum on Information and Intelligence Sharing broadcast on Federal News Radio. Read more about Challenges
One Year Anniversary
The Federal Executive Forum on Information and Intelligence Sharing brought together the same government panelists who appeared one year earlier. During the program, the panelists talked about advances made during the previous year, challenges still to be overcome, outreach to the State and Local communities and their visions of the future.
The panel, moderated by Jim Flyzik of The Flyzik Group featured:
· Karen Evans, Administrator of E-Government and Information Technology, OMB
· Dale Meyerrose, CIO, Office of the Director of National Intelligence
· Vance Hitch, CIO, Department of Justice
· Zal Azmi, CIO, FBI
· Dr. Carter Morris, Director, Information Sharing & Knowledge Management Intelligence and Analysis, DHS
· Edward Vaccaro, Partner, Homeland Security, Federal Systems, Unisys
· Glenn Cruickshank, Senior Manager, Information Management Practice, BearingPoint
· Michael P Angelakis, President and Founder, Integration Technologies Group, Inc.
Progress Is The Most Important Product
In just one short year, much has been accomplished in the Information Sharing arena according to the Forum’s government panelists.
“We’ve improved our models. We’ve expanded that to San Diego, St. Louis, Jacksonville, and in May we are going into LA and Texas with our R-DEx system, which is what we share with information consortia and Fusion Centers with,” says Vance Hitch, CIO at Justice. And we awarded a major contract just last month for N-DEx which is our national digital exchange that will be available to law enforcement no matter how small or large the city across the whole country. Read more about Progress
Sharing With Those Who Need It
Essential to any Information Sharing effort is communicating with state and local governments and the private sector, which owns the vast majority of the nation’s infrastructure.
“Actually at the heart of this Information Sharing for the FBI is the Joint Terrorism Task Forces (JTTF),” says Zal Azmi, FBI CIO. “We have about 100 Joint Terrorism Task Forces throughout the country. That’s the central coordination for a lot of the information that we are dealing with.”
On the law enforcement side for Information Sharing, the FBI relies on law enforcement online, a sensitive, but unclassified network that has been in existence for many years and how the FBI actually collaborates with law enforcement partners. Read more about Sharing
Future Visions
From the “need to know” to the “need to share” to now the “responsibility to provide” shows that the views on Information Sharing are changing rapidly. So, while the future for Information Sharing seems bright, by no means is it something that can be checked off as being done.
“We have a lot more work that needs to be done, because I don’t know that any of us will ever sit back, at least in my tenure, and say, “Gosh, we have completed everything and so we can close up shop and go home, says OMB’s Karen Evans. “This is a job that will be never ending and we need to do it because the American people are depending on us to do a good job in this area.” Read more about Future Visions
Roles and Responsibilities
Each agency has a different role in Information and Intelligence Sharing.
For Dr. Carter Morris of DHS, Information Sharing was at the heart of the creation of the Homeland Security Act that created DHS.
“I have a focus that I believe we are doing. We are making sure that the information that DHS has from its operational and regulatory missions flows to the people who can use that information across the community,” explains Morris. Read more about Roles
The Private Sector Is Hard At Work
Partnership with the private sector is a cornerstone of 21st century government. Without private sector expertise, government wouldn’t have Information Sharing technologies or tools.
Joining government leaders to discuss Information Sharing on the Federal Executive Forum were leaders from Unisys, BearingPoint and Integration Technologies Group – three organizations who are immersed in Information Sharing efforts. Read more about Private Sector Efforts
Fusion Centers
A Fusion Center is an effective and efficient mechanism to exchange information and intelligence, maximize resources, streamline operations, and improve the ability to fight crime and terrorism by merging data from a variety of sources. In addition, fusion centers are a conduit for implementing portions of the National Criminal Intelligence Sharing Plan (NCISP).'' Learn more at: http://www.it.ojp.gov/topic.jsp?topic_id=209
