Feds polish up information-sharing plan

A final implementation plan will be released this month for the federal government's new Information-Sharing Environment, John Negroponte, director of national intelligence, said in a speech Monday.

Congress established the environment concept as part of Negroponte's office in the intelligence reform legislation of 2004. Program Manager Thomas McNamara, who runs the initiative, is developing specific policies and processes for the environment, publishing an IT architecture and completing the implementation plan, Negroponte told the U.S. Chamber of Commerce National Security Business Forum.

The environment's purpose is counterterrorism information-sharing among federal, state, local, tribal and private sector participants.

Another boon to information-sharing is the appointment last year of retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Dale Meyerrose as chief information officer of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Negroponte said. Meyerrose, whom the Senate confirmed in December 2005, formerly was CIO for U.S. Northern Command, which was established in 2002 as the Pentagon's homeland defense unit.

Meyerrose already has been successful at breaking down barriers to information-sharing, implementing information-sharing standards and beginning to address procurement standards for information technology, Negroponte noted in his speech.