DHS Watch : Legacy Agencies' Technology Difficult to Coordinate
Posted Oct 03, 2003

The Chief Information Officer for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has projected that the twenty-two agencies that were incorporated and reformed into the new DHS will not share an unclassified network until December 2004. They are not expected to have a single technology infrastructure until December 2005. According to a September 23, 2003 article in "National Journal's Technology Daily," those who have been assigned to develop the integrated technology are finding it challenging. One of the primary reasons for the difficulties is, although there was a merger, there is no previous entity to reference for policy guidance decisions, as there normally is in the business sector.

While merging the systems, the DHS technology team must also address difficult issues, such as an ability to authenticate state licenses from all fifty states for identification purposes. They must implement biometric systems and ensure that none of their technology will result in civil liberties violations. In addition, some of the information shared by the DHS agencies needs to also be available to state law enforcement agencies, which adds another layer to the challenge.

After assessing the resources each individual agency brought to the newly formed DHS, the technology team has begun the process of implementing the unified system. Until the information in all systems has been effectively consolidated, it is unlikely that there will be total resolution to all transition-related delays that the various components of the DHS have experienced. We are pleased that efforts are continuing to integrate the technology and hope that this will be combined with the technological advancements Director Eduardo Aguirre of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (CIS) has planned to make within that agency.