In the post-9/11 world, government agencies in charge of national security information have learned how to share data. But now the governmentâs top official in charge of efforts to increase sharing efficiency wants agencies to speed up the process.
Kshemendra Paul, program manager for the Information Sharing Environment, a presidentially appointed position recommended by the 9/11 Commission, spoke before the Center for Strategic and International Studies and offered his thoughts on information-sharing progress and how to build âbeyond the foundation.â
âOur high calling is to support our mission partners â the federal, state and local, tribal and territorial agencies, and our partners internationally and in the private sector â to protect the American people and enhance our national security through the use of information,â Paul said, explaining the purpose of ISE, a relatively new and somewhat arcane agency.
âThe ISE is ⦠a somewhat abstract topic,â Paul acknowledged. âPeople have a hard time getting their heads around what exactly is that, ISE?â
By means of a âmental model,â Paul used a mosaic of interconnected stories to demonstrate information sharing and agency cooperation: a police officer using the National Crime Information Center database during a routine traffic stop; and a Coast Guard official using Department of Homeland Security networksâthe same ones used in the event of other disasters, either man made or natural.
The scenarios demonstrate the challenges and the opportunities of connecting the dots in a world, where hoarding information poses serious national-security implications.
Paulâs scope of authority lies across five âcore communities,â he said. Intelligence, defense, foreign affairs, law enforcement and homeland security, which enable âthe effective sharing of terrorism-related information,â he added.
And since the national strategy for information sharing was mapped out, Paul continued, ISE has focused on bringing together federal agencies and local law enforcement to develop âa unified process around suspicious activity reporting, or SAR.â
And for the future, Paul issued a call to federal agencies for the 21st century, an age where, while information may want to be free, it also wants to be shared.
âTo make the ISE work, we need to focus on data â sharing it, discovering it, protecting it, fusing it and reusing it,â he said.