IT architecture for homeland security

A common theme in the 9/11 Commission Report is the need to improve how information is shared among the diverse public and private-sector agencies that play a role in our emergency services, public health and safety, law enforcement, transportation, intelligence and national defense. The report makes the case for a paradigm change from "need to know" to "need to share" in the interest of better serving public safety and the public good. This paper describes the problem and how a "network-centric" service oriented architecture like the one being developed for the military by the defense information systems agency (DISA) supports information sharing across the homeland security community as well as our nation 5 military branches.