History and Background

The National Information Exchange Model (NIEM) Initiative was launched on February 28, 2005, through a partnership agreement between the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and signed by the respective chief information officers to address the Homeland Security Presidential Directive HSPD-5 on information sharing.

NIEM allows practitioners of government and industry to share accurate, complete, timely, and appropriately secured information to enable informed decision making to ensure homeland security and public safety. Rather than nationwide integration of all local, state, tribal, and federal databases, NIEM focuses on cross-domain information exchanges between communities of interest (COIs), across all levels of government. NIEM seeks to create an effective information exchange standard to share critical data across domains in support of day-to-day operations and emergency situations.

The overall vision of NIEM is to be the standard, by choice, for intergovernmental information exchange.

Homeland Security Presidential Directive HSPD-5

The directive's mission is "to enhance the ability of the United States to manage domestic incidents by establishing a single, comprehensive national incident management system," which includes components of information sharing in many differing communities.
Submitted: 10/27/2008 4:00 PM
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