Defense officials advocate new classification system for information

Homeland security officials may have to develop a new classification system to let military and civilian agencies at all levels of government share counterterrorism information, several Pentagon officials said Tuesday during an E-Gov conference.

Maj. Gen. Dale Meyerrose, chief information officer of the U.S. Northern Command (NORTHCOM), noted that the Defense Department classifies information on a "need to know" basis, while many law enforcement agencies classify on a "need to prosecute."

"Neither a need-to-know nor a need-to-prosecute [standard] serves our information-exchange requirements," Meyerrose said, adding that NORTHCOM will need to handle most homeland security information on a "need-to-share" basis.

Homeland security officials also need to change the model for Internet communications, according to Lt. Gen. Joseph Kellogg, director of command, control, communications and computer systems for the Joint Chiefs of Staff. "You're going to have to create a Web-enabled environment out there, starting at the unclassified level," he said.