2.2.1: Data.gov Plan

Consider information as a strategic asset, essential in making data visible, accessible and understandable in a secure way across the Department and with mission partners.

Other Information:

OUR PLAN FOR DATA.GOV - The Department of Defense has been committed to supporting the Open Government Initiative from its inception, and is strongly participating in a wide range of new federal initiatives promoting transparency and accountability. The Department was one of the early participants in the Data.gov program in the spring of 2009, and we have since posted 194 tools4 and 10 raw datasets.5 We have long had many public oriented Web sites at the enterprise level such as Defense.gov, as well as those down through the chain of command to installation, squadron, battalion and individual ship levels. A foundational principle associated with our net-centric information sharing vision is to consider information as a strategic asset, essential in making data visible, accessible and understandable in a secure way across the Department and with mission partners. Very early in the Data.gov process, the Department recognized key internal partnerships were required to support the process of populating datasets and tools. The Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs (ASD (PA)) and the DoD CIO joined together to help develop data identification, release and submission processes. These two offices have been active participants in the federal Data.gov Working Group and several Data.gov related interagency working groups. However, data stewardship and responsibility is distributed throughout the Department. We recognize the need to engage senior leadership in supporting this (as well as all of the other) Open Government initiatives.) Under the leadership of the Office of the Deputy Chief Management Officer, the Department is in the process of establishing an internal working group with representatives from across various Components to more fully and effectively support its future participation in Data.gov specifically, and Open Government in general. This working group will be the conduit to ensuring candidate data/tool suggestions (either internally or externally generated) are evaluated, and action is taken as appropriate. Another key function of this working group is to identify data (or tools) that Department organizations already have publicly released which can and should be linked into Data.gov for greater public visibility. Populating Data.gov will be an ongoing requirement. Our objective is to institutionalize and insert the population of Data.Gov into existing business processes to the greatest extent feasible. We will enable this at the lowest possible levels, while still addressing security, privacy, information quality and resource requirements. Ensuring national security and privacy concerns are adequately addressed, particularly the risks as a result of data aggregation, is a major challenge which must be successfully addressed at the federal level as well as internally within the Department.

Stakeholder(s):

• Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs (ASD (PA))


• CIO


• Mission Partners

Indicator(s):

Indicator:1

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