New DoD Strategy Outlined for Information Sharing

US Department of Defense, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Networks and Information Integration and DoD Chief Information Officer John G. Grimes signed the “DoD Information Sharing Strategy” today and established a new information sharing vision for the Department of Defense: “Delivering the power of information to ensure mission success through an agile enterprise with freedom of maneuverability across the information environment.”  
 
“The Department of Defense must closely cooperate with our domestic and international partners to mutually reinforce each other’s success,” said Grimes. “To that end, we must be able to quickly and seamlessly share information. This strategy will help us achieve that goal in concert with our partners both at home and abroad.” 
 
“We are working closely with Ambassador Ted McNamara, the President’s Information Sharing Environment program manager, and retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Dale Meyerrose, Associate Director of National Intelligence and Chief Information Officer for the Director of National Intelligence, to ensure that our goals will support the national strategy,” he added. 
 
According to the DoD Information Sharing Strategy, the vision describes a future state where “transparent, open, agile, timely, and relevant information sharing occurs to promote freedom of maneuverability across a trusted information environment.” To achieve this vision, the strategy describes four goals that form the necessary environment across the department. These include: (1) promote, encourage, and incentivize sharing; (2) achieve an extended enterprise; (3) strengthen agility in order to accommodate unanticipated partners and events; and (4) ensure trust across organizations. 
 
Developed through the combined efforts of the Office of the Secretary of Defense and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the strategy was published in response to the President’s information sharing imperatives and as outlined in the most recent Quadrennial Defense Review. It seeks to guide the Department’s exchange of information within the DoD and with domestic and international partners; for example, federal, state, local, tribal, the private sector, non-governmental organizations, foreign nations, and international organizations. It provides an approach to information sharing activities and operations for the Office of the Secretary of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the combatant commands, the military departments, the Office of the Inspector General of the DoD, the defense agencies, the DoD field activities, and all other organizational entities in the DoD. 
 
“To realize these objectives, the strategy addresses necessary changes to information mobility and associated alignment of incentives, policies, processes and systems, while identifying the critical cultural shift required to support collaboration and improved knowledge sharing,” said Grimes. 
 
The DoD Information Sharing Strategy will be supplemented with additional integrated guidance to synchronize the many information sharing activities, initiatives and investments supported by the DoD. This guidance will expand on five implementation considerations identified in the strategy to focus development on the culture, governance, policies, economics and resources, and technology and infrastructure factors associated with solutions to information sharing challenges. The strategy also establishes a framework for DoD to support the Federal Information Sharing Environment mandated by the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act (IRTPA) of 2004.