Because of the information-sharing weaknesses among federal departments and agencies that became apparent after September 11, the Congress and the administration have called for a number of terrorism- related information-sharing initiatives, including the development of an ISE, as the following instances illustrate: Section 1016 of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 (Intelligence Reform Act), enacted December 17, 2004, as amended by the Implementing Recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Act of 2007 (9/11 Commission Act), enacted August 3, 2007, requires the President to take action to facilitate the sharing of terrorism-related information by establishing an ISE. The Act required the President to, among other things, appoint a Program Manager to plan for, oversee implementation of, and manage the ISE, and established an ISC to assist the President and Program Manager in these duties. In addition, the Act required the President, with the assistance of the Program Manager, to submit to Congress a report containing an implementation plan for the ISE no later than 1 year after the date of enactment (enacted December 17, 2004) and specified 11 elements to be included in the plan. These elements include, among other things, the function, capabilities, resources, and concept for the design of the ISE; project plan; budget estimates; performance metrics and measures; and defined roles for all stakeholders. The Act also required annual performance management reports, beginning not later than 2 years after enactment, on the state of the ISE and of information sharing across the federal government. On December 16, 2005, the President issued a memorandum to implement measures consistent with establishing and supporting the ISE. The memorandum sets forth five information sharing guidelines: (a) defining common standards for how information is acquired, accessed, shared, and used within the ISE; (b) developing a common framework for sharing information between and among executive departments and agencies; state, local, and tribal governments; law enforcement agencies; and the private sector; (c) standardizing the procedures for sensitive but unclassified information; (d) facilitating the sharing of information between executive departments and agencies and foreign governments; and (e) protecting the information privacy rights and other legal rights of Americans. The memorandum also directs the heads of executive departments and agencies to actively work to promote a culture of information sharing within their respective agencies and that ongoing information-sharing efforts be leveraged in the development of the ISE. In October 2007, the President issued a National Strategy for Information Sharing. The strategy is focused on improving the sharing of homeland security, terrorism, and law enforcement information related to terrorism within and among all levels of government and the private sector and articulates the administration’s vision on terrorism-related information sharing. The strategy notes guiding principles and efforts taken to improve information sharing across all levels of government, the private sector, and foreign partners to date. It also contains an appendix that elaborates on the roles of federal, state, local, and tribal authorities in information sharing and expands on the role of state and major urban area fusion centers. The ISE is not bounded by a single federal agency or component. While the Program Manager has been placed within the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, from an operational perspective, the ISE is to reach across all levels of government as well as the private sector and foreign partners. As such, the program is a broad-based coordination and collaboration effort among various stakeholders. In essence, the ISE can be viewed as a set of cross-cutting communication links—encompassing policies, processes, technologies—among and between the various entities that gather, analyze, and share terrorism-related information. According to officials at the Office of the Program Manager, their focus is primarily to ensure that all appropriate terrorism-related information is made available to analysts and others who need it when they need it. The Program Manager is not responsible for the collection or analysis of terrorism- related information. The ISE implementation plan, released by the Program Manager in November 2006, is to be the guiding document describing how the ISE is to be implemented. This plan addressed at a very general and preliminary level the ISE’s information-sharing strategy, roles, and needs. The document set out to include: (1) an operational concept; (2) the implementation overview; (3) a summary of desired operational capabilities; (4) means to develop an architecture and standards; (5) an approach to sharing with non-federal partners; (6) ISE enabling activities; (7) implementation management; (8) recommendations on a structure for expansion and future management; and (9) a summary of implementation actions. The plan also acknowledged numerous challenges to be addressed, including promoting a culture of information sharing, protecting information privacy, and handling terrorism-related information. Under the plan, the ISE is comprised of five “communities of interest,” encompassing intelligence, law enforcement, defense, homeland security, and foreign affairs. Each community may comprise multiple federal organizations and other stakeholders; information is to be shared across these communities. ISE leadership lies with the presidentially appointed Program Manager, for whom the Intelligence Reform Act, as amended, lays out specific requirements. Pursuant to the Act, the Program Manager, in consultation with the head of any affected department or agency, has governmentwide authority over the sharing of terrorism-related information within the scope of the ISE and is required to plan for, oversee implementation of, and manage the ISE. For example, the Program Manager, in consultation with the ISC and consistent with the direction and policies issued by the President, the Director of National Intelligence, and the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, is to issue governmentwide procedures, guidelines, instructions, and functional standards, as appropriate, for the management, development, and proper operation of the ISE. In fulfilling this responsibility, the Program Manager must, among other things, take into account the varying missions and security requirements of agencies participating in the ISE and ensure the protection of privacy and civil liberties. The implementation plan further described areas of responsibility in broad terms for the Program Manager. The plan states, for example, that the Program Manager is to “act as the central agent to improve terrorism-related information sharing among ISE participants by working with them to remove barriers, facilitate change, and ensure that ISE implementation proceeds efficiently and effectively.” In interpreting these responsibilities, the Program Manager has exercised discretion by focusing on, for example, facilitating information sharing across the five ISE communities. To support the development of the ISE, as of June 2008 the Program Manager has a staff of about 11 government staff and 31 contractors organized into three divisions—technology, policy and planning, and business process. Interagency support and advice to the Program Manager on the development of the ISE is provided through the ISC. The ISC is chaired by the Program Manager and is currently composed of 16 other members, each designees of: the Secretaries of State, Treasury, Interior, Transportation, Health and Human Services, Commerce, Energy, and Homeland Security; the Department of Defense’s Office of the Secretary of Defense as well as the Joint Chiefs of Staff; the Attorney General; the Director of National Intelligence; the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency; the Director of the Office of Management and Budget; the Director of the FBI; and the Director of the National Counterterrorism Center. The ISC is an advisory body, which among other things, is expected to advise the President and the Program Manager on development of policies, procedures, guidelines, roles, and standards necessary to establish, implement, and maintain the ISE; work to ensure coordination among the federal agencies participating in the establishment, implementation, and maintenance of the ISE; and identify and recommend solutions to gaps between existing technologies, programs, and systems used by federal agencies for sharing information and the parameters of the proposed information-sharing environment. The ISC and Program Manager are supported by various task and working groups. For example, the Foreign Government Information Sharing Working Group, with coordination and assistance from the PM-ISE, helped develop a checklist of issues to be taken into account in negotiating international agreements. Similarly, an Alerts and Notifications Working Group was established to assist the PM-ISE and ISC members in their efforts to identify the alerts and notifications to be available to federal and non-federal ISE participants. Another area of roles and responsibilities for the ISE lies with individual federal agencies (including those that belong to the ISC and those that do not), state and local governments, and private sector entities. In accordance with the Intelligence Reform Act, as amended, any federal department or agency using or possessing intelligence or terrorism-related information, operating a system in the ISE, or otherwise participating or expecting to participate in the ISE must fully comply with information- sharing policies, procedures, guidelines, rules and standards established pursuant to the ISE. The departments and agencies must further ensure the provision of adequate resources for systems and activities supporting operation of and participation in the ISE, ensure full department or agency cooperation in the development of the ISE to implement governmentwide information sharing, and submit, as requested, any reports on the implementation of ISE requirements within the department or agency. State and local governments also play a role in the ISE through, for example, their law enforcement efforts to prevent crimes. As such, these governments are coordinated with and participate in implementing the ISE. Private sector organizations may share terrorism-related information on a voluntary basis through existing or newly developed ISE mechanisms as well. For example, the ISE leverages existing national plans such as the National Infrastructure Protection Plan, which established mechanisms for public and private sector organizations to share critical infrastructure information on 17 critical infrastructure sectors, such as banking and finance, energy, chemical, and transportation.