Page 8 - FCW, March 30, 2016

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DHS to launch new system for insider threat data
The Department of Homeland Security is planning a new system to central- ize data on potential insider threats, according to a public notice published on Regulations.gov in February.
The Insider Threat Program system of records will cover DHS employees and contractors, and anyone autho- rized by DHS to enter its facilities or access its IT systems, including state, local and tribal law enforcement agents.
The system will gather basic bio- graphical data, information from secu- rity clearance questionnaires, govern- ment or contractor ID credentials, investigative records related to DHS personnel security programs, medical data, financial data and public-facing social media. Biometrics, including fingerprints and voiceprints, are also specified.
The notice states that the system will also collect and retain records of investigative or analytical insider threat investigations, as well as IT activity. In addition to official sources and back- ground-check data, information can come from informants, news media and social media.
In the notice, DHS said the system is part of its implementation of a 2011 executive order that requires agencies to establish insider threat programs. Officials are planning a rulemaking pro- cess to exempt the system from certain Privacy Act provisions, including noti- fying the people whose data is stored in it, because it is considered a law enforcement database.
The system will become effective on March 28; the agency is accepting public comments until that date.
— Mark Rockwell
3,125 of 10,584 identified data centers have been closed as part of the Federal
Data Center Consolidation Initiative
VA leaders cite progress on EHR interoperability
A senior Department of Veterans Affairs official told Congress that VA is operational when it comes to shar- ing electronic health records
certification in November 2015, and VA CIO LaVerne Council told House appro- priators on March 2 that VA would cer-
tify later this month. Council also said it was
time to take a step back from the planned moderniza- tion of the VA’s homegrown VistA EHR. Its modernization plan has been overtaken by new developments in the VA’s health care delivery plan,
with the Defense Depart- ment, and the departments will have the systems fully integrated by 2018. How- ever, it will likely be awhile before DOD and VA are removed from the Govern- ment Accountability Office’s High Risk List for that spe- cific issue.
David Shulkin
“You don’t come off the GAO list very quickly,” VA Undersecretary for Health David Shulkin told the Senate Appropriations Committee’s Military Construction, Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies Subcommittee on March 3. “We hope that we are mak- ing good enough progress.”
In the 2014 defense spending bill, Congress required the two departments to certify that their EHR systems were interoperable. The Pentagon offered its
including an increased focus on mobility, security, women’s health and connections with private-sector providers, she added.
“We have not made up our minds” about what to do with VistA, Council said. A review of the business case could point to several possibilities, including an upgrade or a shift to a commercial capability, but she said the review would not affect VA’s abil- ity to continue working with DOD on interoperability.
— Aisha Chowdhry
INK TANK
8 March 30, 2016 FCW.COM
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