Fusion Framework gives law enforcement the most potent weapon-timely information

Microsoft Corp., in partnership with the Illinois State Police (ISP), has designed a technology platform and architecture for the sharing of law enforcement intelligence that fills a critical void and could make the world a safer place.

The home page provides users visibility into the entire intelligence cycle, from threat assessment to data intake and analysis. Click here for larger image.

The solution is informed by the fact that there is no more effective weapon against terrorism than information that is gathered in a timely way, analyzed with insight and then disseminated to the individuals and agencies capable of using it to greatest effect. But omit or compromise one link in this process and information become as useless a gun without bullets.

Such a breakdown occurred prior to September 11, 2001. The 9/11 Commission Report refers to "fault lines" between foreign and domestic intelligence services--and, most critically, between various agencies of the U.S. government - that prevented the sharing of vital information. This failure to "connect the dots" resulted in the devastating attacks on the United States. A critical problem, but no easy fix More than six years after the attacks, a true information—sharing environment remains a goal rather than a reality. However, steps are being taken to knock down the barriers that block effective communication between agencies both internationally and domestically.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), through its Office of Intelligence Analysis, is actively promoting the creation of state and local information "fusion centers." The ideal fusion center would be a collaborative, multi-disciplinary endeavor capable of turning disparate pieces of information into the sort of actionable intelligence that can be used to thwart an emerging criminal or terrorist activity. Despite the creation under DHS auspices of 41 fusion centers around the country, the ideal has remained elusive. No best practices and technology architecture standards have emerged from the effort. Until now, that is.

The Intake Dashboard pinpoints current incidents for which data is being generated and inputted into the system. Click here for larger image.

A best-practices solution finally achieved A private-public partnership between Microsoft and the Illinois State Police is developing mission-essential best practices and information technology architecture for the Illinois Statewide Terrorism Intelligence Center (STIC). The practices and architecture will be referenceable and replicable by organizations at the Federal, state and local levels in both public and private sectors. The partners undertook their "Fusion Framework" project with several key objectives in mind: Create a collaborative environment for the sharing of intelligence and information among relevant agencies at all levels of government. Leverage each agency's databases and systems to maximize information sharing. Allow participants to seamlessly communicate by leveraging existing systems and creating new ones, while enabling future connectivity to other federal and state systems using extensible markup language (XML). Develop appropriate security measures to ensure that access to networks, systems and information is controlled and monitored. Microsoft and the ISP have developed a proof of concept and work is proceeding on a fully operational version of the solution. Once that happens, the focus will be on extending the platform across local, state and federal boundaries. Built with familiar components to provide maximum reach The Fusion Framework platform is built on the widely used Microsoft Office system, making it easily adoptable — and easily used — by government and non-government agencies and organizations at all levels.

The solutions employs Microsoft VirtualEarth technology to represent the status of ongoing threats. Click here for larger image.

Collaboration is improved through the use of Office SharePoint Server 2007. SharePoint helps an organization get more done by providing a platform for sharing information and working together in teams, communities and people—driven processes. SharePoint is an important part of the overall Microsoft collaboration vision and integrates with other collaborative products such as Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 and Office Communications Server 2007 to offer a comprehensive infrastructure for working with others. Data integration — whether between different organizations or different systems within the same organization — is provided by Microsoft BizTalk Server 2006 R2. BizTalk, in its fifth

version, is used by over 7,000 organizations to integrate systems and automate business processes. It provides industry leading web services support that allows for the secure and reliable exchange of information using XML. Fusion Framework's collaborative, horizontal platform has been designed to accommodate vertical solutions aimed at specific law enforcement challenges. The goal of this inclusive approach is to work with third-party software providers to develop a whole ecosystem of products that integrate seamlessly with the Fusion Framework platform. Delivering value added on the front lines Already, Fusion Framework has demonstrated that such a solution can deliver value added in several key law enforcement areas: Intelligence cycle. Fundamental to law enforcement are the collection of information, its analysis and then the dissemination of that analysis to relevant parties. Fusion Framework is built around this process and makes it transparent. (See screenshots from State of Illinois Terrorism & Intelligence Center site.) But beyond that, it streamlines the process in an operational sense. Previously, when an officer in the field called in information about a suspect and requested a work up, the analysis was done manually, with perhaps dozens of different databases having to be accessed individually. With Fusion Framework, many of the data inquiries occur automatically via BizTalk, which can be pre-populated with the logins needed to access various databases. This results in significant time savings. Report generation. Fusion Framework substantially streamlines the tedious and time-consuming chore of daily shift reporting, which traditionally requires duplicate or triplicate data entry. With the solution, data is inputted once and then made visible in multiple systems as need be using SharePoint technology.

Key performance indicators. Law enforcement officials spend a significant amount of time collecting data that demonstrate what their agencies have been doing and how effectively they've been doing. Governmental accountability demands no less. Fusion Framework streamlines this process of data collection, especially where multiple systems are involved The technology and architecture embodied by Fusion Framework have the potential to revolutionize the way information is shared in a law enforcement setting. Of course, its widespread adoption will be influenced by both political and agency concerns.

A workspace is created during the data intake process and populated with information about individuals involved in current incidents. Click here for larger image.

However, if implemented in a reasonably unfettered way, it has the potential to prove the truth of a famous maxim: To be forewarned is to be forearmed.

For additional information, please visit http://www.microsoft.com/fusion.