Report urges better data sharing.

• Author: Swartz, Nikki
• Position: Up front: news, trends & analysis - U.S. government not doing acceptable job of sharing information that could prevent terrorism - Brief Article

More than three years after September 11,2001, the U.S. government is still not doing an acceptable job of sharing information on a level that may prevent another terrorist attack. So says the Markle Foundation, a New York-based think tank that focuses on technology policy.

According to a 173-page report recently released by the foundation, critical information about individuals that could thwart terrorist attacks is not being sufficiently shared among local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies. It further states that too many federal government agencies remain locked in a Cold-War mentality of closely guarding information rather than sharing it among organizations. This has undermined the vital task of identifying potential terrorists before they strike because investigators cannot quickly reach across jurisdictional boundaries to examine such things as state drivers' license records and financial transaction data.

The...