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Information Shared is Power Squared

Four top-level federal organizations are taking a cue from the journalism handbook by focusing on “who, what, when and where” to improve information sharing. Without developing new standards, this collaborative effort has created a federal information exchange specification and implementation profile that enables agencies to harvest the basics, regardless of where the data resides.

Born from cooperation among the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Department of Justice (DOJ), Defense Department and Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), the Universal Core (UCore) breaks down information-sharing barriers. It enables both federal and local agencies to glean top-level data from information located in a number of locations. In addition, it accommodates legacy systems to support interoperability and to ensure the greatest potential for information sharing.

The framework defines an implementable specification that contains agreed-upon representations for the most commonly shared and universally understood concepts, boiling down data so that users can grab the information that they need. According to Clay Robinson, chief of data strategy, enterprises services and integration, Chief Information Office, Defense Department, representatives from each of the four founding organizations drew upon the National Information Exchange Model (NIEM) as a framework and a standard when developing the UCore concept.

Work on the UCore project began last year as one approach to addressing the breakdowns in communication identified by the 9/11 Commission and the current state of data sharing among government agencies. "Some people here go back and look at the 9/11 Commission Report, and they talk about what a poor job we've done of sharing all of that content and data assets that are out there. Certainly there are some people who have little nuggets of value from things that are out there, but having visibility and accessibility across all of that content is just not working well," Robinson states.

To help solve this problem, the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense, Network Information and Integration (ASD NII) determined that it would not be feasible to develop a single data model that could be applied across the military, homeland security and intelligence communities. In fact, even developing an effective overall data model across any of the military services would be difficult because they have different vocabularies when referring to the same items, Robinson allows.

To develop what resulted in the UCore concept, the ASD NII first began to work closely with the intelligence community and the ODNI to create a common approach for allowing access to the most common data bits that would benefit a multitude of communities of interest. Initially, the two organizations developed UCore 1.0, and some groups began to use it. However, the ASD NII and the ODNI realized that the same information that these groups were sharing could be valuable to other government organizations.

At that point, the two organizations turned to the chief information offices of the DHS and the DOJ because they share an interest in many of the data assets, Robinson explains. Then, the four organizations began looking at the NIEM to further the UCore concept.

UCore includes a common way to address security labels and markings. The classifications of secret, top secret, unclassified and confidential are addressed universally across not only a particular military service or the Defense Department but also across the federal government.

Pilot projects concluded in September 2008, and the UCore executive steering council, which comprises representatives from each of the four founding organizations, decided to wait until the spring of 2009 to move forward. On March 30, 2009, the council approved UCore version 2.0.

"We think that there is tremendous value to folks in the commercial sector to embrace UCore because it will help them then assert that they are contributing to improving the information-sharing situation across the government,” Robinson states. He recommends that companies familiarize themselves with UCore so that they can use this information when they write proposals or present solutions to government agencies.

 

Read the expanded version of this article in the September issue of SIGNAL Magazine, in the mail to AFCEA members and subscribers September 1, 2009. For more information about purchasing this issue, joining AFCEA or subscribing to SIGNAL, contact AFCEA Members Services.