IT on the Front Lines

Agencies deploy new technologies in the war on terrorism

In an effort to unify U.S. justice and law enforcement agencies into more of an intelligent enterprise, Attorney General John Ashcroft announced in November 2001 a plan to reorganize and mobilize these agencies to "meet the mission of the Justice Department," mainly through better information sharing and collaboration. Federal, state, and local agencies are starting to collaborate using new technology.

"In this war on terror, information sharing and cooperation are critical to our strategic mission and to our victory," said Ashcroft. "Under our new anti-terrorism mandate, there will be maximum dissemination ... of appropriate terrorist-related information to all federal officials engaged in the common fight against terrorism." Ashcroft also called for more federal cooperation with state and local agencies.

Just as information and collaboration are essential for a company to achieve business goals, they are also crucial for the Department of Justice to achieve its goal of keeping the nation safe. But getting the right information to the right people is difficult. The information must be shared among many state and local agencies as well as federal agencies that use different terminology and technology. Ashcroft made this problem one of the main issues to tackle in his new plan.

Unfortunately, making these goals a reality takes time, and, more importantly, technology. Law enforcement agencies need to communicate from the top down and from the bottom up. A local police officer needs to be able to query a database to assess if a suspicious person is a suspected terrorist. And, at the same time, when government officials uncover intelligence about a possible terrorist attack, local law enforcement must be given enough information to know what or who to be on the lookout for.

Law enforcement agencies have taken steps toward better information collaboration. State troopers at Logan International Airport in Boston are using Research in Motion Ltd.'s BlackBerry wireless devices powered by mobile government software from Aether Systems Inc. The devices let state troopers run background checks through the National Crime Information Center to find information on people or vehicles. Massport, the Massachusetts Port Authority, equipped the troopers with the BlackBerries, and said they may also expand the system to include states' records and federal watch lists.

The CIA also started a venture to stay on top of all the private technology available to help them in their information-sharing goals. The venture, called In-Q-Tel Inc., recently agreed to use enterprise software from Zaplet Inc.

"The pace of national security work today demands the best collaborative solution that allows both government and large commercial enterprises to transform email into a collaborative application development and deployment platform," said Gilman Louie, In-Q-Tel's president and CEO. "[Zaplet Appmail Suite] will give [the CIA's] users the information they need when they need it and enable them to work together, make decisions, and get the mission done."

— Jeanette Perez

In this Issue: