ISE Architecture Program

Through the ISE Architecture program, partner agencies jointly identify the necessary institutional elements to guide IT systems planning and implementation supporting nationwide sharing of controlled unclassified and classified information. Approaches used for the ISE Architecture Program, moreover, have also proven applicable to information sharing in other mission areas including maritime, cargo, aviation, cyber security, and healthcare.

The Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004, as amended, and other governing statutes and regulations require implementation of an ISE Architecture-driven methodology to connect distributed and diverse ISE participant systems. The ISE Architecture Program describes the rules and practices needed for the planning and operation of these systems consistent with enterprise architecture best practices. The concept of ISE Shared Spaces—a fundamental element of the ISE Enterprise Architecture Framework (EAF)—describes a functional and technical systems view supporting information processing and usage requirements from IRTPA that explicitly cite the need for a distributed, trusted, and standards-based implementation.

ISE Shared Spaces and ISE Core Concepts

ISE participants may require multiple ISE Shared Spaces to support their information sharing requirements. Nevertheless, they all operate under the general management and operational oversight of that ISE participant, even in those cases where the supporting infrastructure is provided by a third party. The “ISE Core” (also shown in the figure) consists of networked infrastructure and services provided by designated organizations (or implementation agents) that enable transport, discovery, and other services necessary for interconnection.

During this past year, the ISE Architecture program and its concepts became part of the Federal Government’s IT management framework as a result of work to expand the implementation, and use of ISE Shared Spaces. Specifically, the PM-ISE:

•     Partnered with DOJ to broaden law enforcement community presence in the NSI by reconciling data exchanges and business process flows between the FBI’s eGuardian system and other operating ISE Shared Spaces;
•     Identified potential improvements to be incorporated in the next version of the ISE-SAR Functional Standard which fully encompass eGuardian as part of the NSI;
•     Assisted sites participating in the ISE-SAR Evaluation Environment in properly implementing ISE Shared Spaces;
•     Assisted DOT and the NRC, a new partner in the ISE, with ISE Shared Space implementation planning;
•     Coordinated technological enhancements with state and major urban area fusion centers deploying operational ISE Shared Space systems that support the NSI and other ISE applications;
•     Partnered with DOJ’s Global Justice Information Sharing Initiative (GLOBAL) to develop a systems architecture reference guide to help define common business processes, services, and technology implementation approaches to aid partners in technically interfacing in the ISE; and
•     Compiled a prioritized list of tools useful for planning and configuring fusion center systems connecting to the ISE.