The Information Sharing Environment (ISE) was established by the United States Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004.[1] Under Section 1016 of IRTPA, the Program Manager for the Information Sharing Environment (PM-ISE) was granted government wide authority to plan for, oversee the implementation of, and manage the ISE.
The Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 (IRTPA) is a 235-page Act of Congress, signed by President George W. Bush, that broadly affects United States federal terrorism laws. The act comprises several separate titles with varying subject issues. It was enacted in response to the terror attacks of September 11, 2001.
The ISE provides analysts, operators, and investigators with information needed to enhance national security. These analysts, operators, and investigators come from a variety of communities - law enforcement, public safety, homeland security, intelligence, defense, and foreign affairs – and may work for federal, state, local, tribal, or territorial governments.[2] They also have mission needs to collaborate and share information with each other and with private sector partners and our foreign allies. Federal agencies and state, local, tribal, and private sector partners — the ISE Mission Partners — deliver, and operate, the ISE and are accountable for sharing to enable end-to-end mission processes that support counterterrorism.[3]
Role of the Office of the Program Manager for the ISE
The PM-ISE works with ISE Mission Partners to improve the management, discovery, fusing, sharing, delivery of, and collaboration around terrorism-related information.[3] The primary focus is any mission process, anywhere in the United States, that is intended or is likely to have a material impact on detecting, preventing, disrupting, responding to, or mitigating terrorist activity. Examples include: terrorism watchlisting, person and cargo screening, suspicious activity reporting, and alerts, warnings and notifications. The PM-ISE facilitates the development of the ISE by bringing together mission partners and aligning business processes, standards and architecture, security and access controls, privacy protections, and best practices.[4]
Laws and Presidential Authorities Inclusive of IRTPA
The USA PATRIOT Act is an Act of the U.S. Congress that was signed into law by President George W. Bush on October 26, 2001. The title of the Act is a contrived three letter initialism (USA) preceding a seven letter acronym (PATRIOT), which in combination stand for Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001. The acronym was created by a 23 year old Congressional staffer, Chris Kyke. The USA PATRIOT Act is an Act of Congress signed into law by United States President George W. Bush on October 26, 2001. With its ten-letter abbreviation expanded, the Act's full title is "Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001".
The Homeland Security Act of 2002 established the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in part to improve the sharing of information among Federal, State, and local government agencies and the private sector, in order to enhance the Nation's ability to detect, identify, understand, and assess terrorist threats to and vulnerabilities of the homeland, to better protect our Nation's critical infrastructure, integrate our emergency response networks, and link State and Federal Governments. On July 29, 2003, the U.S. President issued Executive Order 13311, addressing key information sharing provisions in the Homeland Security Act.[6]
The Homeland Security Act (HSA) of 2002, was introduced in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks and subsequent mailings of anthrax spores. The HSA was cosponsored by 118 members of Congress. The act passed the U.S. Senate by one vote, with the pivotal vote in a tied Senate being cast by Independent Dean Barkley. It was signed into law by President George W. Bush in November 2002.
The Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 (IRTPA) reorganized the Intelligence Community and established the position of Director of National Intelligence to serve as the U.S. President's chief intelligence advisor and the head of the Intelligence Community, and to ensure closer coordination and integration of the 16 agencies that make up the Intelligence Community. IRTPA also established the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) to serve as a multiagency center analyzing and integrating all intelligence pertaining to terrorism, including threats to U.S. interests at home and abroad.[7]
The United States Intelligence Community (IC) is a federation of 16 separate United States government intelligence agencies and a 17th administrative office, that work separately and together to conduct intelligence activities to support the foreign policy and national security of the United States. Member organizations of the IC include intelligence agencies, military intelligence, and civilian intelligence and analysis offices within federal executive departments. The IC is overseen by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) making up the seventeen-member Intelligence Community, which itself is headed by the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), who reports to the President of the United States.
The Director of National Intelligence (DNI) is the United States government Cabinet-level official—subject to the authority, direction, and control of the President of the United States—required by the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 to:
The National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) is a United States government organization responsible for national and international counterterrorism efforts. It is based in Liberty Crossing, a modern complex near Tysons Corner in McLean, Virginia. NCTC advises the United States on terrorism.
Section 1016 of IRTPA embraced the key principles of Executive Order 13356 and directed the establishment of the Information Sharing Environment. The U.S. President was charged to create the ISE, designate its organization and management structure, and determine and enforce the policies and rules to govern the ISE's content and usage. The law further required the ISE be "a decentralized, distributed, and coordinated environment" that "to the greatest extent practicable ... connects existing systems ... builds upon existing systems capabilities currently in use across the Government ... facilitates the sharing of information at and across all levels of security ... and incorporates protections for individuals' privacy and civil liberties."[4]
IRTPA required the U.S. President designate a Program Manager for the ISE. The role of the Program Manager is to manage the ISE, oversee its implementation, assist in the development of ISE standards and practices, and monitor and assess its implementation by federal departments and agencies. IRTPA also established an Information Sharing Council to advise the U.S. President and the Program Manager on the development of ISE policies, procedures, guidelines, and standards, and to ensure proper coordination among federal departments and agencies participating in the ISE. Under the Obama Administration, the Information Sharing Council has been integrated into the White House policy process through the Information Sharing and Access Interagency Policy Committee (IPC), so that the important work of the ISC will move forward under the auspices of the Executive Office of the President.[1]
Laws and Presidential Authorities Post-IRTPA
On August 27, 2004, in response to the Recommendations of the 9/11 Commission, the U.S. President issued Executive Order 13356, Strengthening the Sharing of Terrorism Information to Protect Americans. In it the U.S. President directed agencies to give the "highest priority" to the prevention of terrorism and the "interchange of terrorism information [both] among agencies" and "between agencies and appropriate authorities of States and local governments." The U.S. President further directed that this improved information sharing be accomplished in ways that "protect the freedom, information privacy, and other legal rights of Americans."[4]
On October 25, 2005, the U.S. President issued Executive Order 13388, Further Strengthening the Sharing of Terrorism Information to Protect Americans, superseding Executive Order 13356, to facilitate the work of the Program Manager, expedite the establishment of the ISE, and restructure the Information Sharing Council.[6]
On December 16, 2005, in accordance with section 1016 of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004, the U.S. President issued a Memorandum to Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies prescribing the guidelines and requirements in support of the creation and implementation of the ISE. The Memorandum contained two requirements and five guidelines which prioritize efforts the U.S. President believes are most critical to the development of the ISE and assigned Cabinet officials responsibility for resolving some of the more complicated issues associated with information sharing.[7][8]
The U.S. President directed that the ISE be established by building upon "existing Federal Government policies, standards, procedures, programs, systems, and architectures (collectively "resources") used for the sharing and integration of and access to terrorism-related information, and ... leverage those resources to the maximum extent practicable, with the objective of establishing a decentralized, comprehensive, and coordinated environment for the sharing and integration of such information." The U.S. President also directed the heads of executive departments and agencies to "actively work to create a culture of information sharing within their respective departments or agencies by assigning personnel and dedicating resources to terrorism-related information sharing, by reducing disincentives to such sharing, and by holding their senior managers accountable for improved and increased sharing of such information.".[6]
Later, in August 2007, the Implementing Recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Act of 2007 included amendments to section 1016 of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 and to the Homeland Security Act of 2002. The new law expanded the scope of the ISE to explicitly include homeland security information and weapons of mass destruction information. It also endorses and formalizes many of the recommendations developed in response to the President's information sharing guidelines, such as the creation of the Interagency Threat Assessment and Coordination Group, and the development of a national network of State and major urban area fusion centers.[6]
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The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. § 552, is a federal freedom of information law that requires the full or partial disclosure of previously unreleased information and documents controlled by the United States government upon request. The Act defines agency records subject to disclosure, outlines mandatory disclosure procedures, and defines nine exemptions to the statute. President Lyndon B. Johnson, despite his misgivings, signed the Freedom of Information Act into law on July 4, 1966, and it went into effect the following year.
President George W. Bush signed Executive Order 13388 on October 25, 2005. Its title is "Further Strengthening the Sharing of Terrorism Information To Protect Americans."
A cyber fusion is an intelligence gathering, analysis and dissemination state or major urban area center, which is owned by state, local, and territorial law enforcement and Department of Homeland Security entities, many of which were jointly created between 2003 and 2007 under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Office of Justice Programs in the U.S. Department of Justice. The DHS Office of Intelligence and Analysis (I&A) and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) provide Fusion Centers with resources, training, and other coordinated services. The goal of such centers are to strengthen National anti-terrorism networks within the U.S. Federal government.
The Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB) is an independent agency within the executive branch of the United States government, established by Congress in 2004 to advise the President and other senior executive branch officials to ensure that concerns with respect to privacy and civil liberties in the United States are appropriately considered in the development and implementation of all laws, regulations, and executive branch policies related to terrorism.
The United States government's Information Sharing and Customer Outreach office or ISCO was one of five directorates within the office of the Chief Information Officer (CIO) under the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI). ISCO changed its name and function to Information Technology Policy, Plans, and Requirements (ITPR) in July 2007. Established by at least February 2006, ISCO is led by the Deputy Associate Director of National Intelligence for Information Sharing and Customer Outreach, which is currently Mr. Richard A. Russell. ISCO's information sharing and customer outreach responsibilities extend beyond the United States Intelligence Community and cross the entire U.S. government.
Information exchange or information sharing are informal terms that can either refer to bidirectional information transfer in telecommunications and computer science or communication seen from a system-theoretic or information-theoretic point of view. As "information" in this context invariably refers to (electronic) data that encodes and represents the information at hand, a broader treatment can be found under data exchange.
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