A CASE FOR OPEN STANDARDS—DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), whose logo is shown in Figure 9.1 has called for the use of open standards and IT interoperability in the fight against terrorism and the development of a successful homeland security strategy and future information systems. Figure 9.1. The logo of the Department of Homeland Security, where 22 government agencies have a critical need to share information with the people who need it, including intelligence and law enforcement, state and local partners, foreign governments, and the private sector. Broader use of open standards in information systems will facilitate this. 
The sharing of location-based information—such as data on people, assets, and facilities—across departments and among agencies and jurisdictions is vital for rapid response and accurate reaction to crisis situations. For instance, many government agencies need to have immediate access to critical information. The agencies need to know where the emergency is occurring, what kind of structures are involved, what buildings or open spaces can be used for staging emergency responses, and how best to move emergency responders to the site quickly and safely. Yet, this information undoubtedly resides with different agencies and departments and in various data and vendor formats. Based on this, the DHS has called for the development of information integration architectures that will allow for easy sharing of homeland security information with state, local, and private organizations. The adoption of open standards will provide this information. |
