U.S. officials: Information sharing key to security
The U.S. government is getting better at sharing information between various agencies tasked with protecting the nation against terrorism, but IT can help drive more improvements, according to top-ranking antiterrorism officials.
Readers write back:
July 15, 2007 – Henry Newton of New Orleans writes: DHS now needs to communicate more directly with Infragard. HSP3 information needs to be offered directly to Infragard members through the FBI. HSIN has a “Critical Infrastructure” Web pilot network with about 40,000 members, mostly in the private sector, and a “critical-sector” network for communications among the nation’s 17 sectors of critical infrastructure and key resources, but this is too long just a pilot program.
DHS needs to fund Infragard chapters for approximately $100K each to keep the 20,000 members much more active. DHS funds the Citizens Corps (CERT), but not Infragard. Both of these NGO organizations are for U.S. citizens. Infragard chapters are now 501 c3 organizations that are very poorly funded.
Related content:
U.K. data protection changes prompt warning
Justice report finds secretive FBI data mining widespread
Ambitious e-government project targets secure data sharing
