The 11th Anniversary of 9/11: Continuing to Build Info Sharing and National Security

Last year, as we commemorated the 10^th anniversary of the tragic events of September 11, 2001, we looked back and examined the work we had done to improve responsible information sharing of counterterrorism information and the progress we had made. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper discussed the intelligence community’s move from “need to know” to “responsibility to share”  and Chief Counterterrorism Advisor to the President John Brennan stated that we are “without a doubt” safer today because of “the measures that have been put in place [and] the better integration of intelligence and law enforcement and homeland security capabilities over the last decade.” DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano wrote that today “there is no question that America is a stronger and more secure nation.”

Today, commemorating the 11^th anniversary of 9/11, I would like to discuss our plans moving forward to continue to make America a safer, more secure nation. As I stated in our 2012 Annual Report to the Congress, the office of the PM-ISE is committed to continuing to convene our partners in law enforcement, homeland security, public safety, intelligence, and other domains as well as lead efforts in innovation. The evolution of the threats against us, the strain on our public safety resources, and the challenges of cybersecurity and big data require our constant vigilance and leadership.

Moving forward, we seek to build and support programs that help our domestic information sharing architecture better identify and respond to threats as well as manage, integrate, and make sense of the vast stores of information we increasingly face today. We are accomplishing these goals by working with our mission partners to transform the justice and public safety information sharing model and advancing projects that improve information access and processing, such as backend attribute exchange pilot projects and federated search and single sign on capabilities. We also continue to support the Nationwide Suspicious Activity Reporting Initiative, a key tool for all levels of government to identify and assess threats, and its growth and development through greater Fusion Center access and training capabilities. And, we are working with our private sector and federal government partners to develop  innovative solutions like advancing standards-based acquisition and a standards coordinating council.

The ISE continues to mature as agencies develop, adopt, and deploy interoperable business processes and functional standards. I look forward to continuing to advance our mission with the invaluable support of our mission partners.