WASHINGTON (October 14, 2008) — According to the FBI’s Chief
Information Officer, Zalmai Azmi, the FBI can leverage its role supporting
the nation’s efforts to thwart terrorist attacks by providing leadership,
intelligence, and law enforcement assistance to its Intelligence Community
partners.
Accelerating and improving information sharing across the Intelligence Community
is a top priority of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence
(ODNI), which is overseeing the information sharing efforts. ODNI senior
leadership recently briefed the FBI on its comprehensive plan to address
all facets of information sharing, including people and culture, policies,
processes, technology, risk management, and security.
“The FBI’s Information and Technology Branch is enhancing these
efforts by working toward an end-state solution of information sharing based
on a collective responsibility to provide information, rather than the traditional
mindset of ‘need to know’,” said Azmi. “Additionally,
there are many complex technology initiatives that need to be resourced and
managed to ensure success in intelligence information sharing.”
Azmi explained how the FBI serves as the lead agency for the ODNI’s
consolidated e-mail effort. When completed, every Intelligence Community
member will have a unique community distinguishable name to ensure information
is delivered to the intended addressee.
A universal logon will enable detailed Intelligence Community members to
access their home networks remotely from any U.S. Intelligence Community
partner. According to Azmi, the FBI has already been leveraging its partnerships
within the Intelligence Community to provision information technology services
in order to support personnel located in the Afghanistan and Iraqi theaters
of operation.
“By advocating a collective responsibility for intelligence information
sharing, these Intelligence Community-wide strategies will allow the FBI
to be stewards of intelligence data and take advantage of every opportunity
to share mission-critical information anywhere, anytime with our Intelligence
Community partners to improve the security of our nation,” said Azmi.
