Information sharing key to Homeland Security.

• Author: Farrell, Lawrence P., Jr.
• Position: President's Perspective

The business of national defense is changing before our eyes, in ways that we never would have predicted just over a year ago. National defense today can no longer be defined in traditional terms. The rules of the game have changed, resulting in the need to write a new playbook.

For those in the business of national security, the implications of these new rules are far-reaching, to say the least.

One key reality that has emerged in the post 9/11 world is that national defense no longer means just the Defense Department or the military services. A host of "new" players are acquiring highly visible roles in U.S. anti-terrorism efforts--such as the Transportation Department and the Federal Aviation Administration. Agencies that perform intelligence collection and analysis, meanwhile, are re-evaluating and expanding their mission scope. Also, "old" players, such as the Coast Guard, which has been in the national security business for centuries, are now gaining well-deserved recognition and a more defined role in homeland protection.

Altogether, about 100 federal entities are charged with responsibilities related to homeland security. One key to their success will be how they share intelligence and the information developed from that intelligence. This will be critical to detection, analysis and preemption.

But, as we know, new agencies--as well as existing ones with new missions--tend to stove-pipe their activities, especially with respect to information. It is important to counter this tendency and to promote collaborative sharing of information.

President Bush understands this need quite well. The White House Web site, for example, (www.whitehouse.gov/homeland/21st-technology.html) prominently promotes the concept of "Information to Secure the Homeland." A stated objective is to tear down unwarranted information stovepipes within the government and to share homeland security information with states, localities and key contractors.

This is an ambitious undertaking. Fortunately, we have an abundance of advanced networking technology in the private sector that makes information sharing relatively simple. The challenge, therefore, is not in the technology, but in setting up the right organizational structures for defense and intelligence, and protocols for sharing and collaborating. That is an issue widely debated on Capitol Hill as Congress completes legislation to create the Department of Homeland Security and considers the overall placement of...