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Standards are the key to making cross-agency homeland security programs work; but creating them is anything but routine

In this Special Report

Other stories in this report focus on cross-agency homeland security technology standards in border technology, identity management and credential programs, fusion centers and the multibillion-dollar Integrated Wireless Network program to build a nationwide law enforcement radio network for voice and data.

In each area, the potential for efficiencies and mission improvements from common technology standards force federal information technology manages to make thorny choices involving missing standards, immature standards and the relative merits of settling on one or several systems to deal with specific problems.

Getting first responders on the same wavelength

IT challenges meet at the border

The Credential Conundrum

Technology managers framing the evolution of homeland security systems agree that common technical standards increasingly set their agenda. Standards are essential if systems are to contend with natural disasters or man-made threats without regard for agency boundaries, law enforcement jurisdictions and information silos.

But even as the drive for common homeland security standards accelerates, technologists interviewed for this special report note that developing those standards remains a challenge and cite factors that limit or negate the benefits. Uniform technology patterns offer the promise for agencies to shift information seamlessly among systems and slash costs.

But federal managers and their industry counterparts warn of risks such as clashing, immature or missing standards and the inability of standards to keep pace with technology development. Gaps in the standards array and lags in the process can hinder information exchange and balloon the cost of maintaining systems, they say.

Nevertheless, DHS is pushing standards forward by joining cross-agency projects and fostering homegrown technology development that likely will set the pattern for what other agencies adopt, said Chief Information Officer Scott Charbo. The Homeland Security Department is strongly committed to adopting technology standards across its agencies, he said in an interview this month.

“There are a lot of standards efforts that go on,” he said. “Lots of standard development efforts don’t go anywhere. Typically, there is a market leader that evolves, and somehow that fosters a standard.

“Or sometimes there’s an acquisition [that spurs a standard]” added Charbo, who is also the department’s undersecretary for management. He cited DHS’ long-term effort to push industry to develop a smaller, faster fingerprint capture device for use at border crossing stations as an example of a project driving the adoption of a common technology framework.

When technology is moving slowly, you can push the state of the art forward by doing an acquisition around the requirement, he said.

In most cases, DHS looks for information technology that fits technical standards already adopted by major standards organizations such as the International Civil Aviation Organization, the International Standards Organization or the National Institute of Standards and Technology, Charbo said.

Image: GCN file photo

“From a security standpoint, adopting standard technology as part of the acquisition process makes the component agencies meet our security rules across the department.” — DHS CIO Scott Charbo

ICAO develops and maintains a standard for biometric identification documents used by border control agencies. ISO engages with national standards organizations worldwide, and NIST is developing cross-agency homeland security projects such as advanced methods for evaluating facial recognition and other biometric technologies.

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