Federal government employees who use intelligence or terrorism-related
information in their jobs will be accountable for how well they share
that information as part of their official performance reviews beginning this
year.
The Information Sharing Environment (ISE), a little-known branch of the office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), has worked with the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to add the new
criteria for employees and agencies who deal with intelligence or its
dissemination. The criteria will be part of the fiscal year 2009 reviews.
The
effort to tie performance appraisals to the sharing of intelligence is
part of a broader push to promote a culture of information sharing, a
key recommendation of the 9/11 Commission. The commission bluntly described the status quo this way: "Each agency's incentive structure opposes sharing, with risks but few rewards for sharing information ... There are no punishments for not sharing information." The new criteria for appraisals attempts to reverse that and create rewards for sharing information and negative consequences for not sharing.
The new appraisal criteria applies to federal agencies who are members of the Information Sharing Council, which includes the Departments of Commerce, Defense, Energy, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Interior, Justice, State, Transportation, and Treasury; the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI); the National Counter Terrorism Center and the Joint Staff; and the offices of the DNI and OMB.
Ambassador Thomas E. McNamara, Program Manager for the ISE, praised the new policy. "We have taken a critical step toward ensuring that information sharing becomes ingrained in the way the federal government operates," he said. "This guidance furthers our efforts to remove cultural barriers and create incentives to encourage collaboration that is so critical to our counterterrorism efforts."
The ISE issued a guiding document for agencies -- Inclusion of Information Sharing Performance Evaluation Element in Employee Performance Appraisals (ISE-G-105)
(pdf) -- which requires that a mandatory competency statement be added to
performance plans and recommends competency statements for specific
employee categories.
Created by the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Act of 2004, the ISE supports five communities – intelligence, law enforcement, defense, homeland security, and foreign affairs – and ensures those responsible for combating terrorism have access to timely and accurate information. It is intended to be a trusted partnership among all levels of government in the United States, the private sector, and the nation’s foreign partners.
The Temple of Information Sharing
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