Strategies to build a trusted and collaborative information sharing system for state-level homeland security

Abstract

At all levels of government, strategies to prevent terrorism will rely on the development and distribution of actionable information. It is essential that the United States strengthen its capacity to gather, share, analyze and disseminate such information. In the State of Utah, however, these efforts have been jeopardized by a failure to adequately understand the cultural impediments to building more effective information systems. Spending more money on "stuff" (hardware, communications systems, etc.) will not provide for better information sharing, unless cultural barriers to change are recognized and taken into account in State planning. Public safety officers in Utah are, in my experience, extremely dedicated and competent public servants. Nevertheless, the top priority in Utah should be building a new culture where trust and collaboration exist among the organizations involved in homeland security. This thesis argues that such collaboration does not exist today, and will not grow naturally on its own. Further, states such as Utah need to develop and implement a strategic plan to build a culture of collaboration. This thesis proposed such a plan, tailored to overcome the specific problems that my research has uncovered.