The new priorities of homeland security are transforming traditional approaches to government collaboration and information sharing. Before, those who used the typical tools of the trade — data mining, knowledge management and messaging systems — could afford the luxury of predictability, knowing well beforehand what people, agencies and data needed to be part of a project. Project deadlines were often self-imposed, with goals matched to resources and expectations.
Such luxuries cannot be counted on anymore. Now scenarios can flash up involving unforeseen threats in which multiple agencies might be called upon to cooperate with little or no warning.
Fortunately, a crop of new products is emerging, along with some timely improvements to traditional tools — all designed to support evolving agency missions in this new, dynamic environment.
Hardly of a one-size-fits-all nature, these tools are as varied as the ways that agencies collaborate and the information they share.
Among the new solutions are Web portals housing sophisticated collaboration centers, which can be used by thousands of users to view and post content culled from multiple agency systems while communicating in real time via instant messaging. There also are online collaboration tools that allow agencies to seamlessly link multiple local, state and federal subject-area experts when a potential threat is identified.
Business intelligence systems are being used not only for traditional querying and reporting of massive data stores, but also to provide "dashboard" views of other systems that monitor potential security threats. Indeed, many of the most valuable new functions will be built by linking resources that already exist.
"You don't necessarily have to create entirely new systems, [rather] you have to understand the legacy systems that are available and see if they can be enhanced and developed to meet current needs," said Kathleen Kiernan, assistant director of the Office of Liaison and Public
Information at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and
Explosives and chairwoman of the Law Enforcement Working Group.
"It's [also] about looking at what works in different disciplines that may not have been made accessible to other disciplines," she said.
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