Agencies must undergo 'cultural change' to share data

[Lutfi M. Hussein]

5. Agencies must undergo 'cultural change' to share data
By Molly M. Peterson, National Journal's Technology Daily 

Many federal agencies must undergo a "cultural change" to create the types of information-sharing networks that are needed to defend the nation against terrorist attacks, a State Department technology expert said Tuesday. 

"Our job has not always been to share information, and sometimes it's very difficult for us to get into that culture," June Daniels, a senior systems analyst with the State Department's Foreign Affairs Systems Integration Office, said during a homeland security forum at the Library of Congress. 

Daniels said agencies "don't like to share information with each other," in part because of traditional mandates prohibiting the interagency exchange of sensitive information. She noted that State Department officials, for example, typically cannot access law enforcement databases that contain critical information about non-immigrant visa applicants. 

Full story: http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0302/032002td1.htm 

_____________
Lutfi M. Hussein
Department of English
Arizona State University
Tempe, AZ 85287-0302, USA
Email address: lutfi.hussein at asu.edu
Homepage: http://www.public.asu.edu/~lutfiawa/
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/critics-l/attachments/20020321/553fcaeb/attachment.htm>