IJIS Institute Informs Congress on Information Sharing

The IJIS Institute, a nonprofit organization that focuses on mission-critical information sharing for justice, public safety, and homeland security, hosted a Congressional Briefing on Information Sharing and the Nationwide Suspicious Activity Reporting Initiative in cooperation with Congresswoman Rosa L. DeLauro (D-CT). The briefing, held September 13, 2010, was attended by legislative directors and congressional staff, committee and sub-committee staff, high-ranking officials from the Bureau of Justice Assistance (U.S. Department of Justice), and representatives from major national public safety organizations.

Information is critical in the effectiveness of public safety and homeland security initiatives. Sharing crucial information pertaining to justice, public safety, and anti-terrorism continues to be a national imperative. The briefing educated participants on what the government and its private sector partners are doing to help the information sharing effort for the common good. The briefing also focused on the Nationwide Suspicious Activity Reporting (SAR) Initiative (NSI), a partnership among local, state, tribal, and federal agencies to establish a unified process for reporting, tracking, and accessing SARs in a manner that rigorously protects the privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties of Americans, as called for in the 2007 National Strategy for Information Sharing. The SAR process focuses on what law enforcement has been doing for years—gathering information regarding behaviors and incidents associated with crime and establishing a process to share information to detect and prevent criminal activity, including crime associated with domestic and international terrorism. The NSI strategy is to develop, evaluate, and implement common processes and policies for gathering, documenting, processing, analyzing, and sharing information about terrorism-related suspicious activities.

The briefing, moderated by IJIS Institute President Mike Lyons, featured a presentation on the NSI as well as presentations on “The Challenge of Information Sharing” and “National Information Sharing Standards.” Several participants engaged the panel with questions about information sharing benefits, costs, and solutions.

Reflecting on the briefing, Lyons noted that, “Information sharing is absolutely critical to public safety and homeland security and needs to remain on Capitol Hill’s agenda. I am thrilled that the IJIS Institute is helping to keep that dialog open with this second congressional briefing and I look forward to many more in the future.”

Following the briefing, representatives from the IJIS Institute and The National Consortium for Justice Information and Statistics (SEARCH) met with Senator Lieberman’s (I-CT) and Senator Collins’ (R-ME) offices to further the dialogs on the NSI and general information sharing issues in justice and public safety.

About the IJIS Institute—The IJIS Institute unites the private and public sectors to improve critical information sharing for those who protect and serve our communities. The IJIS Institute provides training, technology assistance, national scope issue management, and program management services to help government fully realize the power of information sharing. Founded in 2001 as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation with national headquarters on The George Washington University Virginia Science and Technology Campus in Ashburn, Virginia, the IJIS Institute has grown to more than 300 member and affiliate companies across the United States. For more information visit www.IJIS.org.

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This release was published on openPR.