Officials say unified government-wide databases with shared access is the future

jointly developing.

N-DEx is a large aggregated data system that collects case files, past histories, and other pertinent information related to criminals in the United States. The database is accessible to law enforcement officials at all levels including local, tribal, state, and federal. All users have the ability to search, link, analyze, and share data for investigative purposes.

Murphy said that in the past, this data was not readily accessible and investigators “had to either get on the phone or know somebody somewhere who could pick up and call.” But with N-DEx, “now they can get that information in an automated fashion whenever they need it.”

Murphy believes that “N-DEx will be a game changer for the investigator.”

The system is being rolled out in stages and the final section is expected to be launched by the end of the first quarter of 2011. Two initial portions of the system are currently in operation with 3,600 law enforcement entities using it.

Essential to the secure operation of N-DEx is the federated identity management system run by Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS), which screens law enforcement officials and offers them credentials to access government wide databases like N-DEx.

This system helps ensure that local, state, and tribal criminal investigators have access to data in a protected fashion at minimal costs by providing “HSPD-12” clearance.

To safeguard facilities DHS instituted Homeland Security Directive 12 (HSPD-12), a government-wide standard for issuing secure and reliable forms of identification that minimize the threat of fraud.

“In its simplest form CJIS has gone out and built an identity provider area that the department can access through secure communications and they can load that up with all their officers and the necessary attributes for those officers to gain access to the services,” Murphy explains.

In light of WikiLeaks and the increased concern over the risks of sharing too much information, David Wennergren, the assistant deputy chief management officer at the Department of Defense, made a “passionate plea” to the audience to overcome its fear of information sharing and think of the potential that linked information sharing systems have.

He sought to “enlist [the audience] as lightning rods of change” to become “information sharing zealots” because “there’s a change afoot that [we] have to be a part of.”

He continued, “We have to move forward…we don’t have to have identity tied to specific proprietary systems or solutions.”

As evidence, he cited a joint VA and DOD facility in north Chicago that are “actually on a single system” where “you can walk in [to a DOD site] and be a doctor and with your VA card you can slide it in see common information.”

“You shouldn’t have to be bound by the fact that you’re part of a network or an enclave. You should be able to get on any computer and find your server,” he explained.

Wennergren urged the audience to “try to change the nature of the dialogue” to avoid a zero-sum confrontation between those who wish to secure data and advocates of information sharing.

“There are fabulous examples all around us about how to think differently about security where you can actually do both. You can raise the bar of security for your organization and improve your data sharing.”