The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) is working to introduce its System of Systems Operational Analytics (SoSOA) program, which aims to improve analytical capabilities for decision-making across the Homeland Security Enterprise.
S&T is currently eliciting requirements and identifying proof-of-concept projects. The main focus is research to develop a scalable system of systems analytic modeling toolkit.
SoSOA would use a holistic approach that includes the interactions of all aspects in an operation to improve the analytics behind activities such as resource investments, budget allocation, capability needs, system tradeoffs, mission effectiveness and tracking personnel and technology. The system would help decision-makers to organize the information they receive from their different analysts and officers.
The U.S. Secret Service (USSS) is working with S&T to become one of the first adopters of the program.
“It is important to USSS that this partnership with SoSOA continue as we are just beginning to realize the benefit to my office and USSS as a whole,” USSS Chief Information Officer (CIO) Kevin Nally said. “This visionary program is the right initiative at the right time for DHS and has great potential to produce exceptional benefits for the Department and the U.S. Secret Service.”
Other adopters of the program include the National Protection and Programs Directorate (NPPD) and U.S. Customer and Border Protection (CBP).
“With CBP, we are working to analyze requirement gaps to find less labor-intensive ways of addressing them,” S&T Principal Data Scientist Kevin Roney said. “This novel approach can also be applied to the Secret Service model. The end objective is an analytics toolbox that can be shared—not the mechanisms, but the tools. Now they can analyze what the data are telling them about their performance and costs, and address planning issues such as the number of new officers needed and budget allocation.”
The first goal of the project is to enable USSS to access their information in a reduced timeframe. Since January 2018, S&T has been meeting with SoSOA clients to examine the visual aspects of the platform. Following this step, the project will advance to building the next proof-of-concept products. By the end of 2018, S&T plans to produce a small scale SoSOA prototype, which may lead to the potential for additional component operations beyond USSS, CBP and NPPD and potentially even to partners outside of DHS.