http://www.fcw.com/geb/articles/2002/0819/web-cooper-08-20-02.asp By Diane Frank Aug. 20, 2002 The Office of Homeland Security is moving forward with several initiatives to develop a homeland security information technology enterprise architecture that encompasses not only federal requirements but also the needs of state and local governments and the private sector. Within the next month, the office will launch a Web site for people at all levels of the public and private sectors to access and share information on existing homeland security-related projects, best practices and centers of excellence, said Steve Cooper, senior director for information integration and chief information officer for the Office of Homeland Security. Cooper was speaking Aug. 19 at the Government Symposium on Information Sharing and Homeland Security in Philadelphia. The Office of Homeland Security is working on several pilot projects based on initiatives at the state and local levels, including a 10-state coalition testing methods for sharing federal law enforcement information and intelligence with state law enforcement agencies, Cooper said. The more projects and practices that the government can find and build on, the more likely it is that change will occur, he said. "This Web site will enable us to begin to share and communicate what's going on," he said. In another effort to reach out to the state and local level, Office of Homeland Security officials met with the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) last week in Cincinnati to start working on state requirements for the enterprise architecture. In that first meeting, officials dealt with the basic questions of definitions and the approach that should be taken, Cooper said. Because local-level officials are dispersed, homeland security officials are still trying to figure out the best way to contact them and keep in touch, he said. "It is imperative that we all participate and that we get this enterprise architecture right," Cooper said. "We have got to hear from everybody." The Office of Homeland Security has also chartered three CIO working groups at the federal level, looking at the architecture needs for border security, emergency response, and chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear hazards. These working groups align with the areas outlined in the Bush administration's proposed structure for the proposed Homeland Security Department, Cooper said. The working groups pull together the CIOs from the agencies involved in each of these efforts, and other working groups will be assembled as they are needed, he said. The Defense Department and the intelligence community are already talking with the Office of Homeland Security about the possibility of setting up another working group for intelligence information, said Roseanne Hynes, senior executive of DOD's homeland security task force. - ISN is currently hosted by Attrition.org To unsubscribe email majordomoat_private with 'unsubscribe isn' in the BODY of the mail.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Wed Aug 21 2002 - 04:00:31 PDT