Preliminary Report on the Creation of 

the Information Sharing Environment 

Prepared Pursuant to Section 1016(c) of the 

Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 

2004 (Public Law 108-458) 

 
Table of Contents 

I. Purpose of the Preliminary Report...................................................................................... 3 

II. Introduction......................................................................................................................... 4 

III. Issues Attendant to the Creation of the Information Sharing Environment........................ 4 

IV. Capability to Provide Electronic Directory Services.......................................................... 7 

V. Review of Current Federal Agency Capabilities for Information Sharing......................... 8 

VI. Conclusion .......................................................................................................................... 8 

VII. References............................................................................................10 

 

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I. Purpose of the Preliminary Report

Recognizing that successful counterterrorism efforts require effective information sharing, 

section 1016 of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 (IRTPA) (Public 

Law 108-458), building on Executive Order 13356 of August 27, 2004, “Strengthening the 

Sharing of Terrorism Information to Protect Americans” (Executive Order), requires the creation 

of the “Information Sharing Environment” (Environment) for terrorism information. In 

accordance with IRTPA, the Environment will be the combination of policies, procedures, and 

technologies linking, as appropriate, the resources (people, systems, databases, and information) 

of Federal, State, local, and tribal governments, the private sector, and potentially foreign allies 

to facilitate information sharing, access, and collaboration among users to combat terrorism more 

effectively. The Environment will support sharing and access to terrorism information, including 

information from the intelligence, law enforcement, military, homeland security, and other 

communities. 

Consistent with section 1016(f)(1) of IRTPA, the President designated John A. Russack as the 

Program Manager (PM) for information sharing on April 15, 2005. As recommended by the 

Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass 

Destruction (WMD Commission), by Memorandum of June 2, 2005, the President directed the 

Director of National Intelligence (DNI) to exercise “authority, direction, and control over the 

PM.” The President also directed the heads of all executive department and agencies to provide 

assistance and information to the DNI and the PM, which will assist the PM in implementing his 

government-wide statutory mandate in section 1016. 

Section 1016(c) of IRTPA requires the PM, in consultation with the Information Sharing Council 

(ISC) established by IRTPA, to submit a preliminary report (Preliminary Report) describing the 

technical, legal, and policy issues presented by the creation of the Environment and the way in 

which these issues will be addressed to the President and Congress, within 180 days after the 

enactment of IRTPA (i.e. June 15, 2005). In addition, section 1016(c) requires the establishment 

of an initial capability to provide electronic directory services or the functional equivalent, and a 

review of relevant current Federal agency capabilities, databases, and systems for sharing and 

using information. 

This document is the PM’s Preliminary Report. The Information Systems Council, created by 

the Executive Order, is in the process of being reorganized as the Information Sharing Council, 

described in section 1016 of IRTPA. This report was coordinated extensively with 

representatives of departments and agencies who will participate in the Environment and who 

have been working on the Environment effort since the issuance of the Executive Order in 

August 2004. This Preliminary Report draws and builds upon the Information Systems 

Council’s report, required by the Executive Order and titled, “Implementation Plan for the 

Interoperable Terrorism Information Sharing Environment.” 

It is important to emphasize that this Preliminary Report is only the first milestone in the process 

of developing the Environment. Subsequent reports will refine and advance the ideas raised 

here, as well as identify additional ones integral to building the Environment. Continued PM 

leadership, supplemented by close cooperation and coordination by all partners in this endeavor, 

will be essential ingredients for success. 

 

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II. Introduction 

The final report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (9/11

Commission) described many instances in which, in the period leading up to September 11, 

2001, potentially useful information (1) was available but no one knew to ask for it, (2) was 

distributed only in compartmented channels, or (3) was requested but withheld on the basis of a 

determination that it could not be shared. Improving information access and sharing is an 

essential element in winning the war on terror and protecting the homeland. We must better 

integrate information across our nation to support the needs of intelligence, homeland security, 

law enforcement, military, emergency responders, state, local, and tribal governments and the 

private sector. 

The shortfalls we experience in information sharing require a staged interagency response. The 

PM will lead the effort to design and implement the Environment. In this effort, he will be 

assisted by the ISC. To the extent that additional interagency policy review becomes necessary, 

it will occur in accordance with Presidential guidance regarding policy development and 

coordination processes. These efforts will provide direction and help to facilitate the 

implementation of an effective program across the government. They bring together senior 

officials from across the Federal Government to work toward a common set of goals and 

objectives, and ultimately to implement a synergistic approach across the interagency 

establishment. 

The Environment must be supported by the resources, policies, guidelines, and enterprise 

architecture(s) needed to broaden the secure sharing of terrorism information among Federal, 

State, local, and tribal entities, the private sector, and potentially foreign allies. To that end, this 

Preliminary Report broadly identifies some key issues that must be addressed from the outset if 

we are to achieve our objectives. We recognize, however, there are a multitude of other 

challenges that will have to be addressed during the tenure of the PM. 

III. Issues Attendant to the Creation of the Information Sharing

Environment 

The Environment represents a combination of policies, procedures, and technologies designed to 

facilitate the appropriate sharing of terrorism information across diverse sectors. It is neither one 

large database nor simply a technology solution. The PM, in consultation with representatives of

departments and agencies who will participate in the Environment and relying upon the work of 

the Information Systems Council, has identified several key issues to be addressed in the 

implementation of the Environment. The remainder of this section describes these key issues 

along with a discussion of the initial steps identified to address them. 

Issue 1: Current authorities and policies governing roles and responsibilities are 

in some instances ambiguous and conflicting. 

Individual departments and agencies have their own policies and procedures for information 

sharing, but there is no single government-wide agreement on what constitutes appropriate 

information sharing. Different standards exist among agencies (and even within agencies) for 

the designation and dissemination of terrorism information, resulting in different views on who 

 

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requires the information and when and how the information is needed and processed. Because 

information protection standards vary, decisions on reconciling the need to protect information 

and the need to share information have been inconsistent and have contributed to the creation of 

cultures that support information segregation. A fundamental change must occur so that, in the 

dynamic setting of the new Environment, the right information is available to the right people at 

the right time. 

An interagency legal working group (LWG) supporting the information sharing effort identified 

certain governance roles and authorities that require clarification, including: 

• the authorities for establishing business rules to govern the Environment; 

• the authorities for creating the Environment architecture; and 

• the roles of departments and agencies in sharing terrorism-related information with State, 

local, and tribal law-enforcement entities. 

It is not clear at this point whether statutory changes will be required to clarify these governance 

issues. The PM, in consultation with the ISC, will review these issues and make 

recommendations through the interagency policy process for the best means to clarify the roles 

and authorities of participating agencies. 

Issue 2: Organizations do not fully trust one another when sharing information. 

Trust is a major challenge in establishing the Environment. In part, this is due to the existence of 

individual organizational cultures that have been developed based on their mission. There are 

also legitimate concerns regarding how information will be handled and used once it moves 

beyond the disseminating agency’s control. There is widespread concern that other users of the 

disseminating agency’s information may not have the necessary skills, training, and knowledge 

to interpret and use it properly. A lack of understanding of organizational missions and a sense 

of competition between organizations can also lead to the belief that sharing will result in a lack 

of prestige, loss of control, or reduction in resources. Users are sometimes reluctant to share 

information because they fear that the information may be misused or misunderstood. A number 

of steps can be taken to drive systemic changes to foster confidence in broader communities of 

interest. Education, better audit controls, development and implementation of processes and 

procedures where none currently exist, and management accountability are paramount. 

As a first step, the PM and the ISC will initiate a mission analysis to clarify roles and 

responsibilities, including identifying offices and people accountable for terrorism information 

sharing across the government. Additionally, trust will develop by enabling all key stakeholders 

to participate in the establishment and continued governance of the Environment. 

Issue 3: Authorized users are not always able to access terrorism-related 

information in a timely manner. Originator controls, need-to-know 

requirements, and other restrictions limit access to and distribution of 

information and limit the ability to collaborate. 

In the current environment, actionable information does not always get to the people who need it 

when they need it. Users face a vast and confusing array of systems, databases, networks, and 

 

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tools that require different access methods and controls. Often, information can only be found in 

disparate locations, and access typically depends on the user’s point of entry into the system. It 

must be made easier for the user to “enter” the new Environment and use its capabilities. The 

goal is to permit easy access to the information for appropriately cleared personnel with a need 

and authorization to access it, while preventing access by those who potentially would do us 

harm. A significant delay in pushing out critical information could result in missing a window of 

opportunity for action necessary to protect the homeland. 

Although guidelines developed in response to Executive Order 13356 did prescribe limits on the 

use of originator controls on terrorism information, they have not yet been fully implemented. 

Moreover, the need-to-know principle, that has influenced information sharing decisions since 

the early days of the Cold War, can no longer be the exclusive criterion for such decisions in the 

era of the war on terror. Frequently, originators today do not know “who has the need to know 

what.” As the WMD Commission stated, “it is unrealistic to think that we can achieve our 

information sharing goals without departing from the traditional approaches of the “need-toknow” principle,” however, “one must not dismiss the risks of this approach” (Chapter 9). 

Moving to an Information Sharing Environment necessitates shifting the paradigm to find the 

appropriate balance between the need-to-know and the need-to-share and will require rigorous 

safeguards and significant changes to policies, processes, and cultures. 

Under the requirements of Executive Order 13356, departments and agencies have been working 

to develop and implement data standards to support interoperability. Additional work must be 

done to expand upon these standards for network enterprises outside the Intelligence 

Community. In addition, emphasis must be placed on the development of processes and 

procedures to facilitate interoperability, as well as to rapidly identify users to enable timely 

access to relevant information. 

A major impediment to information sharing is the difficulty associated with moving information 

and collaborating across various security domains. State and local agency networks, moreover, 

typically do not connect and communicate with each other or with Federal Government 

networks. Users have difficulty accessing information due to the tendency to compartmentalize

data and the wide variety of systems governed by different policies, procedures, and access 

controls. Sharing information with and receiving information from foreign governments also 

present special issues that need to be further addressed and resolved. 

The PM and the ISC will review the implementation of existing governmental arrangements for 

the protection and sharing of information, consistent with applicable law and Presidential 

guidance. In addition, mandatory guidelines must be developed that appropriately balance 

security risk with the need to facilitate expedited and efficient access to information for those 

appropriately cleared personnel with a need and authorization to access the information. These 

guidelines will also need to address issues concerning restrictions on sharing information with 

and receiving information from foreign governments. 

Issue 4: The Environment must ensure the protection of information privacy and 

other legal rights of Americans in the Environment 

Protection of information privacy and other legal rights of all Americans is a fundamental 

concern when sharing information. The Environment must protect these rights while permitting 

access to necessary data. To enable and support information sharing between Federal, State, 

 

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local, and tribal entities, there is a continuing need to ensure and enforce information privacy and 

other legal rights. 

A Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board is in the process of being established in 

accordance with section 1061 of IRTPA to ensure that concerns with respect to privacy and civil 

liberties are appropriately considered in the implementation of laws, regulations, and Executive 

Branch policies related to efforts to protect the Nation against terrorism. The Board will build 

upon the good work of the President’s Board on Safeguarding Americans’ Civil Liberties, which 

was established by the President by Executive Order 13353 of August 27, 2004. The ISC will 

work in conjunction with the statutory Board to identify appropriate information privacy policies 

and controls for safeguarding Americans’ information privacy and civil liberties. 

Issue 5: The Environment must build on the work of the Information Systems 

Council in response to Executive Order 13356 to remove technology barriers to 

information sharing. 

Consistent with the work of the Information Systems Council under section 5 of Executive Order 

13356, one of the Environment’s goals is to remove technology as a barrier to improved 

information sharing. For the most part, the technology needed to improve interoperability and 

information sharing is available today; it should be an enabler rather than a barrier. It is the roles 

and responsibilities, policies, procedures, guidelines, rules, standards, and legal issues that 

impede our ability to use technology effectively. This connection and tension between policies 

and technical matters are highlighted above in the description of Issue 3-Authorized users are not 

always able to access terrorism-related information in a timely manner. While it is true that 

users face a vast and confusing array of systems, databases, networks and tools, in most cases 

this vast and confusing array is caused not by technological barriers, but by the policies, 

protocols, and sometimes security and legal concerns that prevent us from connecting the 

systems and sharing information in an optimal way. 

As the four key issues described above are addressed, the PM, in coordination with the ISC, will 

work to address any remaining technology barriers that might arise during the implementation of 

the Environment. Since the implementation plan will be developed over the next six months, it 

is difficult to predict precisely what, if any, specific barriers of a purely technical nature will 

need to be addressed. The Information Systems Council identified some of the potential 

technical issues, including the following: scalability concerns; lack of collaboration tools; lack of 

interoperable analytic tools; lack of system support for directories and validations; inability to 

move information across various security level domains; and lack of connectivity between 

necessary partners. As noted above, however, many of these barriers can be addressed through 

the implementation of appropriate policies and procedures. 

IV. Capability to Provide Electronic Directory Services 

A key component of the Environment is what the IRTPA refers to as “electronic directory 

services or the functional equivalent.” Based in part on a concept articulated by the Markle 

Foundation’s Task Force on National Security in the Information Age, electronic directory 

services will help authorized participants, including analysts, operators, responders, planners, 

and policy makers, to locate information, organizations, services, and personnel in support of 

their respective requirements.

 

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At this point, substantive electronic directory services exist within several of the individual 

communities that will be associated with the Environment, although they are most often used to 

locate people rather than information. To build an electronic directory service for all elements 

requiring terrorism information, however, we need to leverage what exists today, and introduce 

new capabilities to build upon and harmonize these systems toward our end goal. The PM and 

the ISC will assess current or planned investments within the Federal Government to provide 

these capabilities. The PM will also be advised of existing and planned capabilities and 

technologies through responses to a Request for Information (RFI) developed by the PM and 

ISC. Based on an analysis of existing capabilities and responses to that RFI, the PM will 

determine the appropriate development activities and/or acquisition strategy necessary to provide 

the extended capabilities required.

V. Review of Current Federal Agency Capabilities for Information 

Sharing 

As part of the FY06 budget process, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) notified 

agencies of its intent to work with them to ensure that the investments supporting terrorism

information sharing align with the implementation plan for the Environment and meet common 

standards for Information Sharing. OMB issued a Budget Data Request to departments and 

agencies collecting information to aggregate a list of Federal information technology investments 

that support terrorism information sharing. Terrorism information managed by these investments 

span the homeland security, intelligence, military, and law enforcement communities. Systems 

from multiple departments already link together, enabling users of one network to directly access 

information contained on, and to cross-post information to another. The current systems provide 

a foundation upon which the proposed Environment can be developed and expanded. 

VI. Conclusion 

This Preliminary Report is the first milestone in the Environment development process by the 

PM. As such, it does not constitute an in-depth study of all issues and challenges that must be 

addressed to implement a government-wide terrorism information sharing program effectively. 

Subsequent reports will refine and advance the issues identified. As the PM plans for the 

Environment, the completed reorganization of the ISC, as well as continued coordination and 

cooperation among all departments and agencies participating in the Environment, will be 

necessary to establish an effective and successful Environment that meets the mission needs of 

the producers and consumers of terrorism-related information. 

Over the next few months, the PM, in coordination with the ISC, will work to support the 

President’s responsibilities under IRTPA, including section 1016(d), which requires the issuance 

of guidelines for acquiring, accessing, sharing, and using information, and the issuance of 

guidelines, in consultation with the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, that protect 

information privacy rights and civil liberties in the development and use of the Environment, and 

section 1016(e), which requires the President to submit a report to Congress containing an 

implementation plan for the Environment. 

 

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REFERENCES

1. The Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 (Public Law 108-458). 

2. Executive Order 13356—Strengthening the Sharing of Terrorism Information to Protect 

Americans, August 2004 

3. Presidential Order dated 15 April 2005, designating the Program Manager, pursuant to 

section 1016(f) of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004, for a 

term of two years. 

4. Presidential Memorandum dated 2 June 2005, “Strengthening Information Sharing, 

Access, and Integration – Organizational, Management, and Policy Development 

Structures for Creating the Terrorism Information Sharing Environment. 

5. Report of the Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding 

Weapons of Mass Destruction, 2005.

6. The 9/11 Commission Report – Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist 

Attacks Upon the United States, 2004 

7. Executive Order 13353—Establishing the President’s Board on Safeguarding 

American’s Civil Liberties, August 2004. 

8. “Creating a Trusted Information Network for Homeland Security”, Second Report of the 

Markle Foundation Task Force, December 2003 

 

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