Data Sharing
It refers to the concerted efforts of organizations to transmit intelligence information or criminal data instrumental in how the recipient organization defines an individual, event, or potential threat. Traditionally, sharing of information encompasses the goal of “connecting the dots”. The intention lies in providing more information to aid in decision-making (for instance when an individual or a situation looks like a potential threat and interpreting the reaction taken during the assessment). Another intention is to increase the chances of a successful result of an operation or investigation, say when trying to locate a suspect involved in a crime. Law enforcement institutions, for example, police departments, contacting other departments seeking information on a probable felon is an illustration of how systems sharing records is an advantage. In reality, enabling this sort of data sharing is courtesy of a national level agency like the N-Dex or a regional system like ARJIS (Automated Regional Justice Information System) operational in Southern California. Data sharing fosters the publication of intelligence products such as counterterrorism reports disseminated from the NCTC (National Counterterrorism Center) through classified preexisting information systems.
Notification and Alert
In this category, information transmission focuses on triggering an action from the recipient organization. The information could be about an individual or event that impacts the recipient organization and they were up until then clueless. Another instance if the organization receiving the information is the only one with the mantle to act upon the potential threat. In the event of such a notification or alert, decisions made by the organization are reliant on the interpretation of the warning. Efforts to give notifications and alerts are circumstances that require agencies to work together like federal agencies coordinating with local police. Less tactical examples include the police and organizers for social services collaborating and sharing information to inform the law-enforcers about crime in the community. Common notifications used by the police and the military include a BOLO (Be On the Look Out). An alert system such as an AMBER is significant in communicating vital information from government organizations to the public, in this case informing on an abducted child. Another element in this category is when organizations in the intelligence community disseminate finished intelligence products.
Sharing of Knowledge:
Some activities in sharing information not only communicate sensitive timely details. In other instances, it contributes to already existing information on an individual, organization, or event creating a knowledge pool leading to vital deductions. An example is the usage of electronic devices to create reports after carrying out missions or interagency systems engaging directly with the people through social media platforms to encourage the sharing of information. In serving these functions, technological developments made include the Responder Community of Practice web portal and the Lessons Learned Informations Sharing System (LLIS) belonging to the DHS. Other efforts include conducting joint training with various organizations to enhance the sharing mechanism upon which these processes rely on. With such activities mediated to boosting the human element of the process, organizations can understand why relaying this knowledge beneficial to the recipient is important. In this category also lies the element of systems sharing fundamental products of intelligence analysis.
Sharing of Expertise:
One of the aims for sharing of information is to bring individuals from different organizations with different skillsets in various disciplines to solve common challenges. Although it appears to be an aspect of sharing of knowledge, its accomplishment goes beyond the achievements of writing reports based on missions and the products of strategic intelligence. The pooling of different experts means pooling their knowledge based on the knowledge they possess. Developing multiagency taskforce centers on collocating people from different organizations like the fusion centers of the DHS, the JTTFs of the FBI, and the DoD’s joint interagency task force. The most effective way of sharing expertise knowledge is by making it personal from individual to individual, traditionally face-to-face or using modern technology. An example is using interagency social media platforms (like the Responder Community of Practice or the LLIS) which make it easy to realize people with the prerequisite expertise. Enabling online environments include Intellipedia create a collaboration between the authors of the knowledge shared and the personnel with the expertise in those disciplines. The effort to collaborate shared knowledge with significant expertise (say, fusion centers, and taskforces) creates credibility by allowing the experts to add value analytically and filter the data to ensure a suitable product.