The Markle Foundation Task Force on National Security in the Information Age

The Markle Foundation Task Force on National Security in the Information Age was formed in 2002 to determine how best to make information discoverable and accessible to the right officials at the right time to enable improved decision making with regard to major security threats against our nation.

The guiding principles of the Markle Task Force include the following:

• To enhance and augment our nation's security while protecting the established civil liberties of all citizens.
• To create a trusted information sharing environment that fosters sharing and collaboration among those with information pertaining to potential national security threats, where policies and technologies are developed in tandem, and where security is enhanced and civil liberties are preserved.
• To transform the business processes within government by applying the strengths of networked technologies while mitigating their potential harmful applications.

Over the past several years, the Markle Task Force has issued a broad vision and detailed recommendations on the key policy and technology issues affecting the creation of a trusted information environment. These recommendations have been adopted by executive order and codified in two pieces of legislation.

Markle Task Force Members

The twin challenges of safeguarding civil liberties and enhancing information sharing have been the focus of the Markle Task Force from its inception. Co-chaired by Zoe Baird and Jim Barksdale, the Markle Task Force members and associates have included distinguished security experts from the past five presidential administrations, as well as experts on technology and civil liberties.

The Markle Task Force consults with government officials, private industry, experts on technology and civil liberties, and foreign partners to find viable and immediately implementable solutions to the complex challenges inherent to critical information sharing, collaboration, terror prevention, and the reasonable expectation of privacy.

Major Publications

Since 2002, the Markle Task Force has helped our nation move closer to the implementation of a trusted, government-wide information sharing environment, and has provided a set of detailed recommendations on the key policy and technology issues affecting its implementation. These initiatives culminated with the release of three major reports, each of which is described below.

New: Nation At Risk

The latest report from the Markle Task Force, Nation At Risk: Policy Makers Need Better Information to Protect the Country, urges the President and Congress to take swift action to ensure that policy makers have the best information available to confront a stark set of 21st century national security challenges. This paper offers recommendations on:

• Reaffirming information sharing as a top priority.
• Making government information discoverable and accessible to authorized users.
• Enhancing security and privacy protections.
• Using metrics and incentives to transform the information sharing culture.
• Empowering users to drive information sharing.

Full report (PDF, 367K)
Executive Summary (PDF, 185K)
Summary of Specific Recommendations (PDF, 192K)

Mobilizing Information to Prevent Terrorism

The report Mobilizing Information to Prevent Terrorism focuses on how to translate the vision outlined in our previous reports into reality more effectively, with a particular focus on how to establish trust—among the public and the users of an information sharing environment. This report:

• Recommends new concepts that serve the dual goals of improving national security and protecting privacy.
• Offers a new "authorized use" standard for government handling of legally collected information.
• Proposes a new risk management approach to sharing classified information, balancing the risk of compromising classified information with the risk of failing to share information with those who can deal with the threats to national security.
• Identifies examples of audit technology that can be used to provide effective and appropriate oversight and accountability.

Full report (PDF, 4.8MB)

Implementing a Trusted Information Sharing Environment

The paper Implementing a Trusted Information Sharing Environment: Using Immutable Audit Logs to Increase Security, Trust, and Accountability explores the technical, policy, and security issues surrounding Immutable Audit Logs (IALs). The topics include:

• Potential benefits and drawbacks of using IALs in an information sharing environment.
• Using IALs to detect violations.
• Using IALs to demonstrate compliance with applicable laws and policies.

Full report (PDF, 354K)

Creating a Trusted Network for Homeland Security

The report Creating a Trusted Network for Homeland Security posits that by using currently available technology, the government can set up a network that substantially improves our ability to prevent terrorist attacks and protect civil liberties. This report offers the following:

• Describes the necessary elements of a Systemwide Homeland Analysis and Resource Exchange (SHARE) Network to prevent terrorism more effectively than the current systems while protecting privacy.
• Provides guidelines designed to garner the public's trust in a governmental network that makes use of information about its own people.
• Asks the President to set the goal of creating such a network, and issue clear governmentwide policy guidelines for the collection and use of information about people in the US.

Full report (PDF, 1.0MB)
Overview (PDF, 127K)
Matrices of Laws Governing Governmental and Commercial Access to Privately Held Data

Protecting America's Freedom in the Information Age

Developed in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, the Markle Task Force issued its first report, Protecting America's Freedom in the Information Age. It offers the following:

• Identifies the ability to share information as the most urgent task facing government in protecting the homeland.
• Proposes a plan for a distributed information technology network to share terrorism-related information among federal, state and local government agencies and the private sector.
• Provides a framework for considering how the government might make most effective use of data residing in the private sector.
• Expresses the need for preserving civil liberties and avoiding the imposition of undue costs on businesses.

Full report (PDF, 971K)
Overview

Ongoing Focus

As our government moves forward with implementing information sharing, the Markle Task Force will continue to focus on helping them tackle the key challenges of making the envisioned environment a reality and managing it in the future.

Information sharing must not be a partisan issue; it goes to the core of good governance. To this end, the Markle Task Force continues to assess the government's progress and aims to make constructive recommendations to the President and to Congress that will help transform how government shares information and collaborates across agencies, with state and local governments as well as the private sector. In particular, our ongoing focus is based on the belief that an effective information sharing environment must be built on trust. Government agencies must trust each other with sensitive information, and the American people must trust their government to protect their civil liberties and privacy.

Additional Information and Resources

For more information on the Markle Task Force on National Security in the Information Age, please contact Danna Lindsay at dlindsay@markle.org or 212-713-7645.

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