Doing Business With U.S. Marshals Service

U.S. Marshals ServiceU.S. Marshals Service HeadquartersWashington, DC 20530-1000(202) 307-9054: 1789: Benigno Reyna: Donald Gambatesa: 4,639: The U.S. Marshals Service is the nation's oldest federal law enforcement agency, and its focus is as varied as its history. It is involved in almost every aspect federal law enforcement, according to its Web site.Today its main mission is to protect the federal courts and the operation of the judicial system. It's also in charge of transporting federal prisoners, protecting endangered federal witnesses and managing assets seized from criminals. U.S. marshals pursue and arrest 55 percent of all federal fugitives.: The organization is part of the Justice Department. It has 95 district offices and personnel assigned to more than 350 locations throughout the states, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. A U.S. marshal leads each office. XXXSPLITXXX-: Acting chief information officer : March 2002: Chicago: Arlington, Va.: Husband, plus lots of family across the country: Reading, travel (was preparing for trip to Italy at interview time), theater, needlework Recently read: "The Cell: Inside the 9/11 Plot, And Why the FBI and CIA Failed to Stop It," by John Miller and Michael StoneNow reading: "Wind, Sand and Stars," by Antoine De Saint-Exupery and Lewis Galantiere: Bachelor's degree in finance from the University of West Florida; master's degree in national resources management with a specialty in information technology from the Industrial College of the Armed Forces, part of the National Defense University Litman: The law enforcement mission of the Marshals Service results in technology needs that are different from most federal agencies. We need 24/7 availability from both the systems and IT staff. The Marshals Service in particular has data that is an amalgamation of public information, things such as arrest warrants or names of detainees, sensitive information with privacy implications, such as fingerprints and biometric data or personal data from prisoners; and also classified information that we use for our witness security program. The other important thing is because of the law enforcement mission, mobility is a big factor in our jobs. So it has critical technological impact. Litman: We regard technology as essential to our mission. The director of the Marshals Services has stated publicly that IT is as important as the budget in supporting the accomplishment of the agency mission. In a law enforcement environment where the successful apprehension of fugitives is often measured in minutes and seconds, it's imperative that our communications infrastructure be robust and secure, and that portable automation tools, such as laptops and personal digital assistants, be available to support our programmatic needs. In the last few years, we have received congressional and departmental support that enabled us to deploy automated booking stations, upgrade our infrastructure, acquire secure communications equipment and modernize our legacy. Litman: The Marshals Service was directly affected by the events of Sept. 11. Our network communications were lost in the Twin Towers collapse, so we had to rapidly deploy satellite and voice over Internet Protocol systems to restore communications.As a result, ensuring continuity of operations has taken on added urgency, so we have been focusing significant attention and resources on implementing contingency plans for the future. Litman: We look for firms that demonstrate a strong commitment to enabling the agency to achieve its law enforcement mission in a cost-effective manner and that produce tangible results in accordance with specific milestones and performance measures. Also, that they have personnel with experience in supporting law enforcement agencies and that they have existing high-level security clearances. We also seek state-of-the-art, security enhancing mobile technologies. Litman: We spent the last few years especially making substantial improvements in our Marshals infrastructure, so now we're planning to focus our resources on upgrading our legacy systems and building new enterprise applications.We're going to emphasize information sharing capabilities with other law enforcement entities, and those involved in judicial proceedings, such as the courts. We're also now engaged in improving the marshals' ability to [support] its personnel abroad, again, to ensure we have continuity of operations capabilities.