Information centralized and shared in DHS | 02.24.2006 | 08:27:45 | Views: 5161 | ID: February 24 '06: Information sharing through a centralized network which can deliver intelligence and data to the satellite agencies under the guidance of Department of Homeland Security is essential Government Computer News reported this week. According to the website, the chief information officer for the department, Scott Charbo said , "Right now, there are a lot of manuel firewalls. The people [who] manage those firewalls have to check with their policy areas. It makes it difficult and it takes a long time." Charbo said using a centralized information system similar to the one recently installed in the Customs and Border Protection agency will allow the department to start "putting in better policies, authentication and procedures for the information-sharing we need to have." In addition to a centralized information-sharing network, Charbo told GCN that we wants to have a program which will allow different agencies to make better decisions about their information-sharing practices - GCN reported that "over the next year, DHS will migrate WANs into more consolidated groups to make "sharing more effective." In terms of managing that information, field operations and responder coordination along the federal, state and local lines, another story posted on the GCN website about the National Operations Center, proposed in the White House Hurricane Katrina report, would call for a singular command and information center which could coordinate and manage emergency response. The center would "be capable of receiving reports from all departments and agency command centers, as well as the Joint Field Office operating at the disaster site." One of the main factors in the hampered federal response during and after Katrina, the report found, was the inability of federal agencies and responder units being able to communicate and share information in a timely manner to help recovery efforts and to present a realistic, real-time report of the situation.
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