This morning, I testified before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Homeland Security’s Subcommittee on Oversight, Investigations, and Management. The hearing was titled “Lessons from Fort Hood: Improving Our Ability to Connect the Dots.”

I testified from my perspective as an information technologist and to present the mission of the PM-ISE, and I appreciated the opportunity to highlight important successes and challenges in information sharing.

Last year, as we commemorated the 10^th anniversary of the tragic events of September 11, 2001, we looked back and examined the work we had done to improve responsible information sharing of counterterrorism information and the progress we had made.

I’m very pleased to announce a new tool on the ISE website that I believe will advance responsible information sharing at all levels of government. The Building Blocks tool is a knowledge resource where we are sharing lessons learned and best practices from the office of the PM-ISE as well as from our mission partners.

Our partners in national security – the state, local, and tribal public safety community – face common challenges around information sharing technology, funding, and policy. With more than 18,000 law enforcement agencies nationwide, information sharing can be fragmented and stovepiped. To attack that fragmentation and transform the model for information sharing, we must work together to share strategies and services, and plan for standards-based acquisitions locally, statewide, regionally, and nationally.

The PM-ISE proudly releases its 2012 ISE Annual Report to the Congress. The Annual Report serves as a single source for the year’s most valuable information on the accomplishments of our mission partners across federal, state, local, and tribal governments, the private sector, and internationally.

In recent conversations, our stakeholders have asked us to clearly define who we are and what we’re trying to accomplish. You want to hear the high-level strategy of where the ISE is going, how to help, and how to participate. With that in mind, I’m proud to release our newly clarified vision and mission:

Our vision is national security through responsible information sharing.

Our three-part mission and related objectives are:

Advance responsible information sharing to further counterterrorism and homeland security missions

As I mentioned in my previous post, I recently visited Washington State to speak at the Worldwide Public Safety Symposium. While I was there, I also had the opportunity to tour the Washington State Fusion Center.

Last week, I visited Washington State where I spoke and met with some folks at Microsoft’s Worldwide Justice and Public Safety Symposium. I focused on some key points related to building information interoperability that I would like to share here.

What is information interoperability?

I would like to congratulate my Senior Tribal Advisor Joe LaPorte for his recent re-election as Chair of the Indian Country Section of the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP). We greatly value our work with IACP in information sharing, and Joe’s efforts to improve information sharing and access for tribal nations is critical to our success in building an Information Sharing Environment.