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Homeland Security: How Government Agencies Are Tackling Information Sharing
Guest: Frederick ("Tom") Thomas Martin, executive director of the Government Emerging Technology Alliance
Friday, Aug. 16, 2002, 11 a.m. EDT
The Bush Administration has put homeland security at the forefront of its domestic policy agenda and has made a historic bid to create the Homeland Security Department, a collection of various agencies and federal government entities that will be tasked with protecting the nation's security and critical information technology infrastructure. But in bringing together nearly two dozen different departments under this proposed department, challenges exist on how the various entities will merge together and join their disparate information technology systems.
After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the National Small Business Council Inc. started a new division called the Government Emerging Technology Alliance (GETA). The nonprofit organization's mission is to link companies that develop new technologies with various government agencies. Next week, GETA is holding a conference in Philadelphia that will focus on information sharing and homeland security. The conference will include officials from the intelligence community, Office of Homeland Security, DARPA, Justice Department and other agencies to tackle issues including integrating information from agencies that have different cultures and policies as well as discussing information technology that can help agency's share information.
Submit Your Questions and Comments: Frederick Thomas Martin, chair of the convention and GETA's executive director, will be online on Friday, August 16, to take your questions about homeland security and the issues and challenges facing the federal government as it works to create the newly proposed Homeland Security Department. Washingtonpost.com's Cynthia L. Webb will moderate the discussion.
About Martin
Frederick Thomas Martin Martin boasts four decades of work for the U.S. intelligence community, ultimately serving as deputy director of the National Security Agency's information services group. He left the government to set up his own consultancy, Martin Consulting Associates Inc. He is the author of "Top Secret Intranet: How U.S. Intelligence Built INTELINK, the Largest, Most Secure Network." The book details intelligence operations that are part of the intelligence community (read an abstract of the book here).
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Cynthia L. Webb:
Good morning everyone and happy Friday. Our chat today relating to homeland security issues with Tom Martin will be starting in a few more minutes. Keep your questions rolling in. I'm looking forward to an interesting discussion today.
Cynthia L. Webb:
OK, let's get our discussion started with Tom. We have a lot of interesting issues to cover. Readers, thanks for joining our chat today.
Cynthia L. Webb:
Welcome, Tom. Thanks gain for being online today. The organization you lead, Government Emerging Technology Alliance (GETA), is just days away from launching a conference related to homeland security in Philadelphia. What do you hope the conference will accomplish?
Frederick Thomas Martin:
Cindy -- thanks for having me -- it is a pleasure to be here and respond to these questions. I am really excited about this conference.
This Convention -- which will be held this coming Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday in Philadelphia -- will bring together members of the various federal, state & local communities to address the effects of Information Sharing on Homeland Security. The focus will be on the gathering, sharing and interpreting of information across the Intelligence and Law Enforcement communities, to federal, state and local organizations.
Discussions will focus on the current problems, causes, solutions and best solutions to the Information Sharing challenge. The convention will also highlight the Information Technology and Emerging Technologies that provide solutions for Homeland Security.
I am expecting more than 800 folks to attend the convention, and we already have a Technology Pavilion with more than 100 exhibits showcasing Information & Emerging Technologies from around the country.
We hope to accomplish a meaningful dialogue among agencies that did not exist before -- in general, promote networking among the professionals tasked with this work, and showcase relevant technology.
In addition, we plan to have a session at the end entitled, "The Road Ahead." This will be a compendium of relevants actions that came out of the conference.
Cynthia L. Webb:
Tom, can you tell us a bit more about who will be involved in the conference and about some of the issues that you will cover with both industry folks and conference officials?
Frederick Thomas Martin: We will have experts from the CIA, NSA, ATF, DISA, the Navy, as well as the Office of Homeland Security, the Law Enforcement Working Group (the closest thing we have to a "Law Enforcement Community).
For keynotes, we are having Congressman Curt Weldon and Congressman Silvestre Reyes, Steve Cooper the CIO from Tom Ridge's office, and Shabtai Shavit, former head of Mossad in Israel talking about sucide bombings. This is exciting!
There are four tracks:
1. Intelligence for HS: Putting together the policy, law and culture -- chaired by Winston Wiley and Jim Simon at CIA. Wiley was recently named as the Asst Dir of Central Intelligence for HS.
2. IT for information sharing
Chaired by Frank Doe from DISA and Bill Dawson from the IC
3. First Responders Track -- chaired by Kathleen Kiernan who is not only the Asst Dir of ATF, but chairs the Law Enforcement Working Group.
4. Training and Education -- chaired by Denis Clift, Pres of the Joint Military Intell College.
Cynthia L. Webb:
Tom, you mentioned the last session at your conference will be called "The Road Ahead." What do you think are some of the main issues that will face industry and government as information sharing is vetted as it relates to homeland security?
Frederick Thomas Martin: Here I believe that a key issue will be privacy -- rights of the citizenry.
In a free society, we cannot total security -- we must MANAGE risk.
The last session of the conference will address those issues.
Silver Spring, Md.:
Which agencies are best at the information sharing task? Which are the worst?
Frederick Thomas Martin: All have their individual strengths and weaknesses.
The real challenge will be to break down cultural barriers.
Cynthia L. Webb:
Thanks for your patience, everyone. We have been having some technical glitches, but we should still be able to get to a number of your questions today. Thanks for the great questions. We have about 30 minutes left of our discussion.
Arlington, Virginia:
What steps will be taken to prevent information overload? Will agencies select what information is worth sharing, and will that defeat the overall objective?
Frederick Thomas Martin: These are issues that each agency will deal with individually.
Clearly, you have identified a critical concern.
Arlington, Va.:
You're a consultant and I'm wondering what you're telling your clients about which agencies will be the "friendliest" with their spending, or who will "get" IT-related dollars the most?
Frederick Thomas Martin:
I really believe that since 9/11 everyone and every agency is focusing on this challenge -- wanting to work together to solve the issues. It is clear that money will be spend wisely to solve this problem.
Cynthia L. Webb:
When you mention that money will be spent, what then do you suggest for companies that are trying to break into selling software or services to tap into the homeland security market?
Frederick Thomas Martin: Attendance at conferences like this is one thing that companies can do. GETA wants to be that interface to help companies break in or tap into the homeland security market. We hope to provide a number of services to make that happen. Our Web site is www.getaevents.org
Arlington, VA:
Government agencies share information? FBI's criminal side of the house doesn't share info with the CI side. CIA won't share with the FBI or Defense Department. DEA doesn't share with DOD. Unless the president makes it happen, it isn't going to. I can't get the CIA
to share clearance info. It isn't classified. However, CIA expects me to share my info with them. What do you suggest about these problems?
A DOD adjudicator Cynthia L. Webb:
Tom, this is an interesting question and seems to strike at the issue of culture that you mentioned.
Frederick Thomas Martin:
This is really the crux of the issue.
Technology is not the problem, but various cultural issues have always existed. I really believe that since 9/11 a new mindset exists to resolve these problems and much progress has been made, all of which will be discussed in Philly.
We are getting there!
San Francisco, Calif.:
A recent news report said that the Department of Homeland Security was asking private companies to tell it exactly where the computer systems of these companies are vulnerable. Is that request insane? War plans against Iraq have been published in our newspapers, and spies who betrayed America were found in the FBI and CIA after they damaged us for decades. This means that any information shared about vulnerabilities will be published and will reveal to terrorists how to do the most damage to American corporations and their telecommunications and information technology systems. Because no one in government can keep a secret, isn't it dangerous and stupid for Homeland Security to ask companies to reveal their vulnerabilities to attack?
Frederick Thomas Martin: These are the issues we face in a free society.
We must all work together to better understand and respect the difference between national security and "need-to-know."
I know that we are making progress in this area -- it just takes time.
Elkridge, Md.:
Are you going to offer any resources to members about setting up a procurement organization and project management services?
Frederick Thomas Martin:
Thanks for this question.
This is exactly what we hope to do in GETA. Information on our new services will be posted shortly on the GETA website.
Please fell free to contact GETA direct.
Arlington Virginia:
Mr. Martin: I don't mean to sound too skeptical, but what does creating another agency/group/organization have to do with simplifying and integrating tech efforts?
Frederick Thomas Martin:
Good point.
The goal is to help the people from all organizations come together and discuss these issues.
Cynthia L. Webb:
Tom, are there any lessons you learned from your decades of work in the intelligence field that you think apply to today's homeland security challenges?
Frederick Thomas Martin:
Decades of work?
Give me a break!!
Seriously, the primary issue has always been cultural issues among the various agencies.
We are really begining to make some progress in this area.
Cynthia L. Webb:
We have a few more minutes left of our chat. Thanks for your great questions today.
Gettysburg, PA:
Could you point out some examples of where the mind-set has changed in these various organizations that are going to be at your conference? People still seem to more interested in preserving their turf!
Frederick Thomas Martin:
Good question.
Here is a perfect example:
There has been an official "Intelligence Community" for some time (now 14 agencies) but not a viable "Law Enforcement Community."
Today we have the beginnings of such in the "Law Enforcement Working Group" headed by Kathy Kiernan, Asst Director of ATF.
These folks are working on this very concern.
Fairfax, VA:
Do you have any insight to when the long-awaited spending will finally come from Washington?
Frederick Thomas Martin:
This varies, of course.
Money is here now, and is being carefully and wisely spent on solutions that deliver real value on mission critical problems.
Alexandria, Va.:
Today's Washington Post has a front-page story about some security experts who were able to gain access to a lot of military computers. If the military's systems are online without adequate protection, how can government agencies in general assure that their information sharing efforts won't be compromised?
Frederick Thomas Martin:
Excellent point.
I read that article and this is a key topic at our conference.
Arlington, Va.:
As the federal, state and local governments improve their ability to gather and share information, what are the resulting privacy implications for American citizens? Is GETA and NSBC working with privacy-oriented organizations like the ACLU to ensure that government projects don't violate personal privacy? Or do the contractors leave this to the government agencies that contract the work?
Frederick Thomas Martin:
I believe that privacy concerns constitute the number one issue.
I want to reiterate that we must MANAGE risk (we cannot eliminate it) in a free society.
GETA is attempting to work with all relevant organizations.
Arlington, Virginia:
Is there some umbrella office that is coordinating the IT projects for the homeland defense department? Basically, what I'd like to know is whether there is any central person or office to call for doing business.
Frederick Thomas Martin:
As I understand it, this area falls under the OHS's CIO.
He is Steve Cooper, and he will be a keynote in Philly.
They are doing lots of good work.
Cynthia L. Webb:
Homland security is the new hot industry to be in. Suddenly, it seems every company wants to help with homland security because that is where the money is. It seems there are a lot of "wanna-bes" in this space. How does the industry separate the real players from the wanna-bes?
Frederick Thomas Martin:
This is a real challenge for the government.
DARPA does an outstanding job in this area. The key is proving that the solution actually delivers what it is promised.
Dr. Robert Popp from DARPA will be at the conference.
Arlington, Va.
I heard that the government put some type of "hold" order on IT programs at government agencies. Can you explain what that is, and more importantly, what does it mean for companies targeting homeland spending?
Frederick Thomas Martin:
As I understand this, there is a temporary hold on programs of $500K or more, at those agencies that will be wrapped into the DHS in order to review for redundancy. This is actually good news and will be discussed in Philadelphia.
Cynthia L. Webb:
Tom has graciously stayed on past our noon close to the chat to take some more questions.
Cynthia L. Webb:
Tom, one last question. Information sharing rests heavily on the assumption that government agencies will actually adopt new technologies. But is there enough money in the federal government to boost IT systems to handle all the upgrades needed for information sharing?
Frederick Thomas Martin:
Absolutely.
Funds are being dedicated to this as a mission critical need.
We clearly are seeing unanticipated needs, but as we move forward, these needs will be met.
Cynthia L. Webb:
We are out of time now, but hopefully we can continue this discussion on a future chat. Thanks, Tom, for joining us today. And readers, thanks for your excellent questions. Until next time and have a great weekend, everyone.
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