Homeland Security tries new approach to IT collaboration

The Homeland Security Department is trying a new management model to encourage its component agencies to work more harmoniously on information technology projects, the department's chief information officer said.

The approach, called enterprise governance, involves bringing together DHS agencies with similar responsibilities and having them collaborate on IT systems, according to CIO Richard Spires. For instance, right now there are nearly 50 systems for screening people coming to and leaving the United States. Under the new setup, agencies involved in screening, including the Transportation Security Administration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and Customs and Border Protection, would work together on streamlining technology. "You need [to be] where everybody gets on the same page," Spires said during the 2010 American Council for Technology/Industry Advisory Council's Executive Leadership Conference. "If they get to know each other and they start to understand each other's issues, like in screening, they can come together in a way that's very powerful."