Improvements To Department Of Homeland Security Information Sharing Capabilities Vertical And Horizontal Intelligence

The President and Congress have directed the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to perform an essential and multi-faceted mission: prevent and protect against terrorist attacks; respond to both man-made and natural disasters; perform the law enforcement and other crucial functions of the Department's component agencies; and play a central role in augmenting the Nation's ability to gather, analyze, and disseminate information and intelligence. To ensure that information and intelligence flow where and when they should, DHS must foster information sharing, consistent with law, regulation, and policy, in each of the following ways: (1) internally within DHS; (2) horizontally within the U.S. Government between both law enforcement agencies and the intelligence community; (3) vertically with State, local, territorial, tribal, and private sector partners; and (4) horizontally with the law enforcement and intelligence agencies of foreign allies and appropriate international institutions. The foundation for DHS's key role with respect to information sharing has been established by statute, regulation, Executive Order, and Secretarial directive. The Department has made significant contributions to the Nation's information sharing capability since its inception, but critical work remains to be done. This Information Sharing Strategy for DHS builds on that foundation and sets out DHS's strategy for achieving its information sharing objectives. This Strategy consists of the following components: Background, Transformation Statement, Guiding Principles, Critical Challenges, Objectives, Information Sharing Standards, Information Sharing Security and Privacy, Performance Measures, and Communication and Outreach.

A primary mission of the Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS) is to ¿prevent terrorist attacks within the U.S., reduce the vulnerability of the U.S. to terrorism, and minimize the damage, and assist in the recovery from terrorist attacks that do occur in the U.S.¿ Since its inception, DHS has had an intelligence component to support this mission. Following a reorganization of the DHS in 2005, a strengthened Office of Intelligence and Analysis (I&A) was established. This report provides an overview of DHSI, and examines how it is organized and supports key departmental activities to include homeland security analysis and threat warning; border security; critical infrastructure protection; and sharing of info. with, state, local, and private sector partners.

Contents: (1) The Need for a Nat. Strategy; Guiding Principles; Linkage with Other Nat. Strategies; (2) Background and the Current Environment: What Has Been Accomplished Since 9/11?; Continuing Challenges; Legislative and Regulatory Background; (3) Sharing Info. at the Fed. Level; (4) Sharing Info. with State and Local Gov¿ts.; Interagency Threat Assessment and Coordination Group; State and Major Urban Area Fusion Centers; (4) Sharing Info. with the Private Sector; (5) Sharing Info. with Foreign Partners; (6) Protecting Privacy and Other Legal Rights in the Sharing of Info.: Core Privacy Principles; Privacy Governance; (7) Institutionalizing the Strategy for Long-Term Success: Protecting the Info. Privacy and Legal Rights of Amer.