Budget Cuts Slam Government Data Fusion Operations
October 1, 2010
The dream is to sit down in front of one terminal or kick back and use an iPad to search government information. Most regular folks don’t know that the US government, working with state and local officials, has been trying to assemble data so it can be searched from one system. The buzz word for this effort is “fusion” and the conversion and normalization of data is handled at “fusion centers.”
“Fusion Centers Decry Lack of Dedicated Funding” reveals some interesting facts about the access, discover, and search initiative. According to the article:
The Government Accountability Office, for a report dated Sept. 29, interviewed officials from 14 of the 72 fusions centers spread across the country and found that most officials said that lack of a dedicated federal funding source is affecting their ability to plan for the long term.
The budget pinch in Washington is not likely to be resolved any time soon. The Department of Homeland Security is working on a nation-wide assessment of its fusion activities. You can read a report about this project in GAO document 10-972.
I flipped through the report. I am trying to steer clear of government work for a while. Enjoy. In the meantime, those looking for information will have to combine online and manual methods. Not agile, but it works.
Stephen E Arnold, October 1, 2010
Freebie
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