Clinton-era officials urge agencies to share information

Two prominent Clinton-era officials on Wednesday urged government agencies to communicate with each other and share information in order to more effectively fight terrorism. Former Director of Central Intelligence James Woolsey and former National Security Advisor Samuel R. "Sandy" Berger spoke in Washington at the "E-Government Integration and National Security" conference hosted by webMethods, a Fairfax, Va., software developer. The nation is in trouble if agencies continue to create databases that cannot communicate with one another, Woolsey said, citing separate fingerprint databases at the Immigration and Naturalization Service and the FBI. Berger said real-time, intelligent data-sharing among agencies such as the INS, the Customs Service, federal, state and local law enforcement agencies and intelligence organizations is a must, but recognized the hurdles to such information-sharing. Sharing data presents policy and turf challenges, he said. "If you give up control of your database, you lose part of your budget," he said. "How much data can the CIA really share?" he asked. Woolsey noted that in the Clinton administration, terrorist investigations were delegated to law enforcement agencies. Sharing information about terrorism was difficult because statutes--especially those relating to grand juries--prevented law enforcement and intelligence agencies from working with the same information, he said. Woolsey also cautioned federal agencies against complacency when it comes to protecting shared information. For example, GOVNET, the Bush administration's proposal for a super-secure voice and data network, is a good idea, he said, "but the problem is that not absolutely everyone in government is going to be on our side." If people with malicious intent can get into GOVNET and have free access to information, he said, the federal government hasn't truly solved the problem of protecting shared data.