Failing to Connect the Dots

The White House released the Undie Bomber security review today. The president labeled the incident "...a failure to connect the dots..." but (1) there wasn't much more detail in the publicly released review and (2) it didn't seem to call for a change in strategy just more centralization and information passing.

Here are some readings that suggest a different strategy: (1) Congratulations, Osama, how Ben-Gurion Airport does security, (2) Profile Me If You Must, focus on people rather than screening, (3) Terror Database Has Quadrupled in Four Years, the ugly details of how the Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment (TIDE) functions and fails. (4) Meeting the Threat of Terrorism, why "discoverability" of information is more important to connecting the dots than sharing and (5) WIJIS Architecture Overview: Version 2.0, a formal information architecture to enable "discoverability"--with a criticism of the current approach.