Information sharingNew database critical to success of "See Something, Say Something"
DHS is developing effective information sharing systems with local law enforcement agencies and federal counter-terrorism offices to ensure that its new “See Something, Say Something” campaign can function effectively; the new National Suspicious Activity Reporting Initiative (NSARI) will create a national database and processes to sort through the increasing number of suspicious activity reports (SARs) by combining three online databases and allowing local agencies to search across all systems for information without having to change existing business practices; officials hope to complete the system by September of this year; a recent planned terrorist attack in Texas was thwarted when two tips came in using the system
DHS has been hard at work developing effective information sharing systems with local law enforcement agencies and federal counter-terrorism offices to ensure that its new “See Something, Say Something” campaign can function effectively.
The new National Suspicious Activity Reporting Initiative (NSARI) will create a national database and processes to sort through the increasing number of suspicious activity reports (SARs) by combining three online databases and allowing local agencies to search across all three systems for information without having to change existing business practices.
“The fusion centers can use whatever networking tool they feel most comfortable with and all get to the same place, which is a huge accomplishment in information sharing,” said David Lewis, the chief technology officer for the initiative at the Justice Department.
In the past individuals would have to gain clearance to conduct searches on Law Enforcement Online, Regional Information Sharing System, and the Homeland Security Information Network. Now agents at fusion centers can conduct searches across all three secure networks.
Following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the government established seventy-two state and city fusion centers across the United States to collect and analyze SARs to help DHS prevent another terrorist attack.
These fusion centers are state and locally run and therefore differ significantly in the technology they use. According to Lewis, some of the centers have full-scale data collection and predictive analysis systems that are fully integrated with other law enforcement reporting systems while others have simple databases and standalone records systems.
The new NSARI systems, connects all of the data in fusion centers, regardless of their current technological capabilities.
“All fusion center officials have to do is take their local information and map it to the National Functional data elements,” Lewis explained, referencing the National Sex Offender Public Registry system which operates similarly. “Then they just continue to use their tools and push the SARs they want to share out to the common box.”
Each fusion center’s data will then be made available to law enforcement officials who will be able to access the data through the existing secure law enforcement and homeland security databases. This feature will greatly assist in the detection of terrorist plots as there are “some [fusion centers] where they have nothing at all in terms of data gathering for SARs specifically,” Lewis said.
“By bringing all this information together, it’s going to be easier for us to sift through all these SARs — whether they come from law enforcement or
