Creating a Trusted Information Network for Homeland Security

Book excerpt: Report concluds that by using currently available technology, the government can set up a network that substantially improves our ability to prevent terrorist attacks and protect civil liberties. It provided details for the necessary elements of a proposed System-wide Homeland Analysis and Resource Exchange (SHARE) Network that would more effectively combat terrorism than our current system, while protecting privacy. The public's trust in a governmental network that makes use of information about its own people can be achieved only if government-wide guidelines for information sharing and privacy protection are established after open public debates on the issue. The Task Force therefore proposed that the President set the goal of creating such a network, and issue clear government-wide policy guidelines for the collection and use of information about people in the U.S., including private sector information.