RISS Supports Federal Information Sharing Initiatives

RISS Supports Federal Information Sharing Initiatives Efficient and effective sharing of information between and among criminal justice agencies and partner organizations is at the heart of today s efforts across the nation to protect public safety. In the current fiscal environment of reduced resources at all levels of government, the ability to share information remains one of the most important factors that enable communities to address their most pressing criminal justice problems in cost-effective ways. The RISS commitment to providing critical information sharing solutions is not limited to state, local, and tribal entities. RISS has always been a key player in federal information sharing initiatives that contribute to significant cost and time savings through enhanced criminal justice information sharing, both horizontally and vertically, in ways that further strengthen public and officer safety, and federal, state, local and tribal agency and staff relationships across the nation. Currently, there are more than 1,000 federal agency users of RISS services. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) GangNet System RISS works with its federal partners to maximize criminal information sharing through proven initiatives that take advantage of the established data exchange standards and the RISS Secure Cloud (RISSNET) infrastructure. One example is the seamless sharing of gang-related information between the ATF GangNet intelligence system with RISS s RISSGang intelligence system using LEXS and RISS s Secure Cloud infrastructure to handle the secure data exchange. This secure connection allows for the simultaneous search of separate but connected criminal intelligence databases containing millions of intelligence records. The cooperation between ATF and RISS allows officers, analysts, and other authorized users to develop and analyze investigative case information with a breadth of data previously unavailable to them. ATF GangNet and RISSGang, like all RISS criminal intelligence databases and partnering agency systems, comply with the Criminal Intelligence Systems Operating Policies, 28 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 23, issued by the Office of Justice Programs, DOJ. DOJ Gang Information Exchange Project RISS is a partner in the DOJ s ongoing effort to expand the sharing of gang intelligence through the Gang Information Exchange project in which users of the Texas Gang (TXGANG) and the RISSGang systems will be able to simultaneously search records in both systems. The technology that makes this information sharing possible is the data exchange interface described in the Gang IEPD created by DOJ BJA, IIR, and the IJIS Institute in 2011, which is based on LEXS. Eventually, authorized federal law enforcement personnel will be able to take advantage of this secure data exchange between RISSGang, TXGANG, and other gang-related intelligence systems from a single search application hosted on RISSNET that federal users will access from the secure National Gang Intelligence Center (NGIC) Website. April 2013 www.riss.net/impact 1 P a g e

Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) FLETC serves as an interagency law enforcement training organization for 91 Federal agencies. FLETC also provides over 100 professional development courses to state, local, and tribal, law enforcement agencies through its Electronic Learning Portal (ELP). Secure access to the FLETC ELP and its course materials are available to state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies only through the RISS Secure Cloud via the RISSNET Portal. RISS uses GFIPM-based identity federation technology to provide this secure access to FLETC s ELP. Fusion Center Assistance and Nationwide Suspicious Activity Reporting (SAR) Initiative (NSI) RISS Direct Assistance to Fusion Centers RISS works directly with staff at various fusion centers by providing daily interaction with RISS Intelligence Analysts and, in some instances, RISS Center staff members are assigned to a fusion center. Fusion center and RISS staffs benefit from daily interactions that allows them to capitalize on each other s knowledge and experience. RISS provides technical on-site assistance to fusion centers to integrate RISS services and resources into their daily operations and coordinates the delivery of RISS services with fusion center personnel. RISS also provides the fusion center staff with on-site training, research, and topical publications. RISS s training includes courses on anti-terrorism, analytical techniques, and 28 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 23. RISS researches, drafts, and disseminates publications related to fusion centers and information sharing strategies to thousands of criminal justice professionals. Fusion Centers use RISS s Automated Trusted Information Exchange (ATIX) In times of natural disaster or terrorist actions, law enforcement, public safety, first responders, and critical infrastructure private entities need to securely communicate and share information effectively and efficiently regardless of jurisdiction. RISS provides a secure trusted environment for all entities involved in these critical events to collaborate real time through ATIX. For example, fusion center staffs use ATIX as a trusted tool to make sure all agencies in the center have the most up-to-date information available related to the events under way. Below are some examples of how RISS ATIX is being used by fusion centers to share information: Delaware Information and Analysis Center (DIAC) The DIAC is Delaware s Fusion Center. It serves as a critical component of Delaware s Homeland Security as well as criminal intelligence, critical infrastructure protection, and statewide law enforcement investigative support. The DIAC adheres to an All Crimes All Hazards approach to homeland security at the state level. This approach necessitates that the DIAC provides real time information and intelligence to those decision makers with a need and right to know in the law enforcement sector. The DIAC uses the ATIX Program s document sharing and real-time collaboration capabilities as a means of providing secure up-todate communications and information sharing among law enforcement and the critical infrastructure communities. Pennsylvania Crime Intelligence Center (PaCIC) The PaCIC is Pennsylvania s state fusion center. Through the PaCIC, trained analysts provide federal, state, municipal law enforcement officers, and the owners and operators of critical infrastructure and key April 2013 www.riss.net/impact 2 P a g e

resources throughout Pennsylvania with the intelligence information, investigative data, and public source information necessary to safeguard communities. Analysts also provide investigative support by analyzing complex information and collating it into intelligence summaries, organization charts, link analysis, time event analysis, and other professional products. PaCIC uses ATIX as a means of securely sharing this information between criminal justice agencies and critical infrastructure and key resources operators. Nationwide Suspicious Activity Reporting (SAR) Initiative (NSI) The Nationwide Suspicious Activity Reporting (SAR) Initiative (NSI) is a collaborative effort led by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Bureau of Justice Assistance, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and state, local, tribal, and territorial law enforcement partners. An integral component of the NSI is a technology solution that enables participating agencies to share and view SAR information from various NSI Shared Spaces that have been created under the auspices of the federal Information Sharing Environment (ISE) and installed locally at participating agencies. In 2010, the SAR Search Portal (SAR SSP) Tool was created to allow authorized users to search data from all of the participating local ISE-SAR Shared Spaces. This search tool is hosted at the Institute for Intergovernmental Research (IIR) but access to the tool is provided by RISS to its users directly from the RISSNET Portal and in a federated manner to authorized law enforcement personnel via the FBI s LEO Enterprise Portal. Tennessee Fusion Center s ISE-SAR Shared Space Servers The NSI provides law enforcement with another tool to help prevent terrorism and other related criminal activity by establishing a national capacity for gathering, documenting, processing, analyzing, and sharing SAR information. All SARs with a potential terrorism nexus are loaded into the ISE-SAR Shared Spaces from existing legacy systems. The data that is stored in the local ISE-SAR Shared Spaces is periodically updated using a mechanism that replaces all data with a snapshot of current data. This approach ensures that the data in the ISE-SAR Shared Spaces is kept synchronized with data in the source systems. The Tennessee Fusion Center takes advantage of the RISS Secure Cloud infrastructure by hosting their shared space servers within the RISS Technology Support Center (RTSC). GFIPM and LEO Enterprise Portal Based upon RISS experience gained during the Trusted Credential Project, RISS was asked to participate as a charter member of the Global Federated Identity and Privilege Management (GFIPM) Demonstration Project. The project was initiated in 2005, under the auspices of Global Security Working Group. The goal of the GFIPM demonstration project was to prove that users of one federation partner system could access resources of another partner s system after authenticating only to their own system while allowing the information owners to retain complete control over access to their resources. The foundation of this project was the exchange of identity credentials based on Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML). April 2013 www.riss.net/impact 3 P a g e

In 2006, running in parallel with the GFIPM project, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Law Enforcement Information Sharing Program (LEISP) Trusted Broker Pilot Project was initiated to prove that users of certain federal, state, local, and tribal information systems could access resources on each other s systems without having to separately logon to each system. Again, RISS was invited to participate in this project because of its experience with federated identity technologies. RISS was the only non-federal agency participating in the LEISP Trusted Broker Pilot Project. As with the GFIPM project, SAML was the mechanism used in the LEISP project to exchange user credentials. These GFIPM and LEISP projects took slightly different approaches and included different participants, but both proved useful to their partners and resulted in the creation of two ongoing identity-based federations that actively connect critical criminal justice and public safety information with the authorized people who need it most. The GFIPM Demonstration Projects resulted in the establishment of a set of standards and procedures used to create the National Identity Exchange Federation (NIEF) and the LEISP pilot resulted in the establishment of the FBI s Law Enforcement Online (LEO) Enterprise Portal (EP). Currently, more than 13,000 users of partner systems have accessed the following resources on RISSNET through these federations: Cold Case Locator System Intelink National Criminal Intelligence Resource Center (NCIRC) National Motor Vehicle Title Information System (NMVTIS) RISS ATIX Website RISSGang Web Site RISS Officer Safety Website Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) Electronic Learning Portal (ELP) The SAR Search Tool RISSNET Techpage RISSNET users have access to the following resources through these federations: FBI Law Enforcement Online (LEO) Website Criminal Information Sharing Alliance network (CISAnet) FBI Joint Automated Booking System (JABS) National Gang Intelligence Center (NGIC) Intelink Identity Federation Efforts In 2004, RISS foresaw a need to allow authorized users from systems outside of RISSNET to access information on RISSNET using a digital credential originating at the user s home system. To solve this problem, RISS initiated the Trusted Credential Project that resulted in RISS implementing the ability to create and accept credentials in the form of Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) Assertions and exchange them with other systems. April 2013 www.riss.net/impact 4 P a g e

Information Sharing Environment (ISE) In 2004, as part of the federal Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act, the Office of the President of the United States created the Information Sharing Environment (ISE) and established a Program Manager (PM-ISE) to oversee the organization that builds upon existing systems capabilities currently in use across the Government;... facilitates the sharing of information at and across all levels of security;... and incorporates protections for individuals' privacy and civil liberties." 1 Under the auspices of the PM-ISE, several working groups were created to facilitate information sharing across federal agencies and between federal agencies and state, local, and tribal agencies. One such group is the Assured Sensitive But Unclassified (SBU) Interoperability Working Group (SBU WG) composed of the following partners: FBI CJIS, Law Enforcement Online (LEO); DHS, Homeland Security Information Network (HSIN); NSA Intelink; and RISS, RISSNET. RISS represents state and local priority interests as the only non-federal participant in this working group. RISS is also the only non-federal participant currently involved in the Data Aggregation Working Group (DA WG), Identity Federations Coordination (IFC) Working Group, and Information Integration Sub- Committee (IISC) under the auspices of the Information Sharing and Access Interagency Policy Committee (ISA-IPC). In 2012, RISS led an effort by the SBU WG partners to create a National Information Exchange Model (NIEM) Information Exchange Package Document (IEPD) to enhance information-sharing between all law enforcement and homeland security agencies at all levels of government through security-trimmed federated search. This was the first step toward implementing a search capability that will provide law enforcement and homeland security personnel with a tool that will allow them to find the critical information they need more efficiently by allowing them to search across multiple SBU systems at one time without having to go to each target system. RISS and HSIN are currently working towards implementing this search capability between their two systems. Once implemented, users from either system will be able to search both systems for critical information. Information about the user s identity, including their role (e.g., sworn law enforcement officer, public safety officer, or having received 28 CFR Part 23 training) is transmitted with the search request via a SAML Assertion. The receiving system can then provide a response that includes all of the information the searcher is authorized to access. This is accomplished by checking the user s identity attributes in the SAML Assertion against the data that has been previously tagged for various levels of authorization (e.g., Law Enforcement Sensitive (LES), Sworn Law Officer (SLO), or Sworn Public Officer (SPO)). Most current federated search implementations determine what information a user can receive at a lower system level, thus denying information to anyone who does not meet a higher authorization level for any higher-level piece of information in the system. This attribute-based security trimmed federated search represents the next step toward fulfilling the goal of the President s recently-released National Strategy for Information Sharing and Safeguarding by enhancing the ability to share the right information, with the right people, at the right time 2 1 For more information on the ISE, please see: http://www.ise.gov/background-and-authorities 2 See: http://www.ise.gov/blog/kshemendra-paul/white-house-releases-new-national-strategy-informationsharing-and-safeguarding April 2013 www.riss.net/impact 5 P a g e

More recently the PM-ISE initiated a project that will extend the Backend Attribute Exchange (BAE) model currently used within the federal government to include federated identity-based information sharing with state, local, and tribal systems. RISS has been asked to participate in this effort along with the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) and the Institute for Intergovernmental Research (IIR). During this project, Texas DPS users will access RISS s intelligence system, RISSIntel. Access to RISSIntel requires that a user be certified as having been trained in 28 CFR Part 23, among other requirements. The Texas DPS system does not store information about which users have received 28 CFR training, but IIR does. In this scenario, IIR will establish BAE capability for providing the 28 CFR Attribute. On behalf of its users that want to access RISSIntel, the Texas DPS will: 1) collect all of the required user attributes from its own user store, 2) access the 28 CFR BAE at IIR and 3) include the 28 CFR Attribute in the SAML Assertion that it sends to RISS. RISS will allow the user to access RISSIntel if all of the required attributes are present and correct. This project represents the critical role that RISS continues to play in information sharing among and between law enforcement and homeland security agencies at all levels of government. INTERPOL The INTERPOL I-24/7 global police communications system was created to connect law enforcement officers in all member countries. It enables authorized users to share sensitive and urgent police information with their counterparts around the globe, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. I-24/7 is the network that enables investigators to access INTERPOL's range of criminal databases. Authorized users can search and cross-check data in a matter of seconds, with direct access to databases on suspected criminals or wanted persons, stolen and lost travel documents, stolen motor vehicles, fingerprints, DNA profiles, stolen administrative documents, and stolen works of art. INTERPOL specifically authorizes individual federal, state, and local law enforcement and criminal analysts to access the Interpol I-24/7 resource through the RISS Secure Cloud. Medicaid Fraud Control Units (MFCU) and National Association of Medicaid Fraud Control Units (NAMFCU) Medicaid Fraud Control Units (MFCU), created by Congress in 1977, are federal and state-funded law enforcement entities that investigate and prosecute violations of state law pertaining to fraud in the administration of the Medicaid program. In addition, the MFCUs are required to review complaints of resident abuse or neglect in nursing homes and other health care facilities. The National Association of Medicaid Fraud Control Units (NAMFCU) is a professional association created to provide training, promote communication and interstate cooperation, provide for the exchange of information, and educate the public about the work of the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU) program. The RISS Secure Cloud s Software as a Service (SaaS) is used by the MFCUs to provide a private, secure MFCU Investigators collaboration site where investigators from around the country can conduct secure on-line information-sharing discussions and can post and share documents about their investigations, such as provider services resources, wanted persons, discussion forums, and training documents and events. April 2013 www.riss.net/impact 6 P a g e

National Criminal Intelligence Resource Center (NCIRC) The National Criminal Intelligence Resource Center (NCIRC) is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA). The NCIRC is a secure Website that provides law enforcement and homeland security personnel with a centralized location to access resources needed to develop, analyze, and share criminal intelligence among all levels of government. NCIRC provides many tools for law enforcement, including access to the 28 CFR online training and information regarding the Nationwide Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) Initiative (NSI), both of which are hosted at IIR. The secure Law Enforcement Sensitive (LES) NCIRC Website is available to RISSNET users directly via the RISSNET Portal and via federation to users from the FBI s LEO Enterprise Portal. National Identity Crimes Law Enforcement (NICLE) Network Identity-related crimes continue to increase in number each year. The individuals involved in committing identity-related crimes are aware of the inner workings of our legal system and exploit jurisdictional weaknesses to avoid or lessen prosecution. Often multiple law enforcement entities investigate the same suspect or groups of suspects unaware of a parallel investigation being conducted. This inefficient use of law enforcement resources costs the criminal justice system time and money, provides additional frustration to victims and may result in lesser penalties for the criminal. To address this concern the United States Postal Inspection Service and the United States Department of Justice jointly developed the National Identity Crimes Law Enforcement network, NICLE. NICLE is an application that collects and organizes identity crime related information concerning victims, suspects, and investigators. Available to law enforcement, NICLE provides a link that crosses jurisdictional boundaries allowing investigative efforts to be more efficient and more effective resulting in more cohesive prosecutions and more appropriate penalties for criminals. Law enforcement can access the NICLE Dashboard via the RISSNET Portal. National Motor Vehicle Title Information System (NMVTIS) NMVTIS is an electronic system designed to protect prospective buyers of used vehicles from having vehicle histories concealed from them. Created by federal law, NMVTIS is the only publicly-available system in the U.S. that requires all insurance carriers, auto recyclers, junk and salvage yards, and states to report vehicle history information. Prospective buyers of used vehicles can request vehicle history information for a nominal fee through NMVTIS by selecting an approved service provider at http://www.vehiclehistory.gov/nmvtis_vehiclehistory.html. In addition to the publicly-available system, the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), in partnership with the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA), created the NMVTIS Law Enforcement Access Tool to provide law enforcement officers with the information necessary to investigate crimes associated with motor vehicles. This is a law enforcement sensitive (LES) site that is separate from the publicly available NMVTIS Website. NMVTIS is an asset to law enforcement agencies across the country as investigations have shown that criminals involved in domestic auto theft enterprises often perpetrate violent crimes, such as homicide, drug and human trafficking, and domestic terrorism. Law enforcement can access the NMVTIS Law Enforcement Access Tool via the RISSNET Portal or via federation to the RISSNET Portal from the LEO EP. Another law enforcement resource initiated by NMVTIS and hosted on the RISSNET Portal is a private, secure Vehicle Theft Investigators collaboration site where investigators can conduct secure on-line information-sharing discussions and can post and share documents about their investigations, such as best practices and procedures, criminal methods, and subjects of interest. April 2013 www.riss.net/impact 7 P a g e

National Railroad Trespasser Database The National Railroad Trespasser Database is a national database that was funded by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), accessible to railroad police departments and local, state, and federal law enforcement partners, to accumulate and analyze information pertaining to unauthorized persons found on railroad property. The National Railroad Trespasser Database is an instantiation of the RISS National Criminal Intelligence Database specifically customized to accommodate the needs of railroad police departments. The National Railroad Trespasser Database is available to authorized users via the RISSNET Portal. National RISS Data Exchange Initiatives Beginning in 2000 with the creation of the first XML-based data exchange between intelligence systems (RISS Data Exchange Specification (RISSDES)), RISS has been a critical partner in developing and refining the mechanisms for securely exchanging critical information between criminal justice agencies at all levels of government. Working with the LegalXML initiative in 2002, RISS used the experience gained from developing RISSDES to help develop the Reconciliation Data Dictionary (RDD). RISS then worked with the Global Justice Information Sharing Initiative (Global) to develop the Global Justice XML Data Model (GJXDM). Working with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the U. S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), RISS lent their expertise to the committee that created the National Information Exchange Model (NIEM). RISS also participated in the establishment of the Logical Entity exchange Specification (LEXS). LEXS is a family of NIEM-conformant Information Exchange Package Documents (IEPDs) that provide a framework for creating data exchange specifications that go beyond the definition of data objects to encapsulate a common understanding of the messages that will contain the data. National Virtual Pointer System (NVPS) In 2004, the National Virtual Pointer System (NVPS) was developed in cooperation between the DEA, HIDTA, RISS, and Nlets. The NVPS is a target/subject deconfliction system that accomplishes automated federated inquiries from one participating NVPS system to other participating systems when data is entered into one of the participating systems and the appropriate criteria is met to initiate an automated query. The NVPS Message Hub was built by RISS and is hosted on the Secure RISSNET Cloud. The Midwest and South Florida HIDTAs, the Missouri Statewide Police Intelligence Network (MoSPIN), and the U.S. DEA s National Drug Pointer Index system (NDPIX) began exchanging information using NVPS. In 2005 and 2006, the New England, Appalachia, South Texas, and Chicago HIDTAs became NVPS participants. In 2007, the Atlanta HIDTA; in 2010, the Washington/Baltimore HIDTA; and from 2009 to 2011, the six RISS Centers also became NVPS participants. National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C) The mission of the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C) is to provide training, investigative support, and research to agencies and entities involved in the prevention, investigation, and prosecution of economic and high-tech crime. A non-profit membership organization, NW3C has been continuously funded through competitive grants for over three decades. NW3C membership consists of law enforcement agencies from all 50 states and four continents. Law enforcement accesses the NW3C Search Tool via the RISSNET Portal. April 2013 www.riss.net/impact 8 P a g e

RISS Provides Secure Access to Critical National Information Resources The RISSNET Portal provides users with a streamlined log-on process, ease of access to resources, and enhanced search capabilities to RISSNET and partner resources. The RISSNET Portal aggregates RISSNET content and applications into a browser view. The RISSNET Portal is capable of personalizing the aggregation and presentation of each user s browser view based on user identities, roles, and preferences. Many of the applications and resources available to authorized users are provided and managed by federal government entities. RISS s Secure Cloud Software as a Service (SaaS) Software as a Service (SaaS) makes software applications available to consumers via thin clients (e.g., web browsers) or some other client interface. The applications run within RISS s service provider infrastructure and the application user has no control over that infrastructure environment. RISS s Secure Cloud Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) allows the consumer to deploy their own applications and services created using their own software platforms. RISS, as a secure cloud service provider, supplies basic infrastructure (e.g., servers, network, and storage). RISS s Secure Cloud IaaS includes: A secure facility with backup generator Rack space for client-owned equipment Computing power with physical and virtual servers Network bandwidth Failover to redundant servers and Storage Area Network (SAN) Offsite disaster recovery United States Attorney General s Law Enforcement Officer Safety Initiative/RISSafe and the RISS Officer Safety Website The RISS Officer Safety Event Deconfliction System (RISSafe) and the RISS Officer Safety Website are two important components of the U.S. Attorney General s Law Enforcement Officer Safety Initiative. RISSafe assists thousands of law enforcement agencies by proactively identifying potential conflicts between operations and events conducted by agencies and officers. By identifying these conflicts and informing the appropriate partners, RISSafe helps officers avoid harmful and dangerous situations and prevents interference with each other s cases. RISSafe also increases communications and supports case resolution. As part of the Preventing Violence Against Law Enforcement and Ensuring Officer Resilience and Survivability (VALOR), which is the Office of Justice Program s (OJP), Bureau of Justice Assistance s (BJA) national training initiative to improve the safety of our nation s officers, RISS developed the RISS Officer Safety Website. This site serves as a secure one stop shop for law enforcement to access all types of officer safety-related information, including awareness materials, videos, information on armed and dangerous subject, information on concealment methods, and a training calendar. April 2013 www.riss.net/impact 9 P a g e

United States Attorney s Office (USAO) Project Safe Neighborhoods Mapping and Analysis Program (PSN MAP) The Eastern District of Pennsylvania U.S. Attorney's Office (USAO) includes Philadelphia and eight other counties: Berks, Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Lancaster, Lehigh, Montgomery and Northampton, and is at a geographic disadvantage when it comes to crime. It's located in the southeastern part of the state, and is increasingly attractive to the criminal element because a network of major thoroughfares connects it to New York City, Philadelphia, and Baltimore. In 2003, the EOUSA developed a system, called Project Safe Neighborhoods Mapping and Analysis Program (PSN MAP) that enables law enforcement users to gain a geographical perspective on firearm incidents and violent crime in their own jurisdiction, bordering jurisdictions, and the entire Eastern District of Pennsylvania. The program goals are: (1) to increase the capacity of PSN Task Forces to design data driven strategies that produce measurable decreases in firearm-related violent crime; and (2) to improve the long term ability of federal, state, and local partners to work together to understand, prosecute, and prevent firearm related violent crime within their jurisdictions. PSN MAP utilizes RISSNET to provide law enforcement agencies on all levels in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania with easy-to-use, web-deployed mapping tools to gain a visual perspective on crime incidents in selected geographic areas. PSN MAP maximizes data sharing in the region by identifying perpetrators who have committed crimes in multiple jurisdictions so cases may be effectively charged and prosecuted in federal court. Information on all known or suspected individuals involved in these crimes are entered into RISSIntel, further enhancing the sharing of intelligence beyond the region and fostering the coordination of investigative efforts. United States Secret Service s Targeted Violence Information Sharing System (TAVISS) TAVISS is a federal government system administered and maintained by the United States Secret Service. TAVISS is the first centralized database containing a repository of names of subjects with a known or suspected, adverse or unusual direction of interest towards local, state, and/or federal public officials. Member agencies are required to share data from their protective intelligence databases to be active participants. Law enforcement accesses TAVISS via the RISSNET Portal. April 2013 www.riss.net/impact 10 P a g e