Information Sharing Environment
Common Terrorism Information Sharing Standards
Common Terrorism Information Sharing Standards

On October 31, 2007, Ambassador McNamara, Program Manager for the Information Sharing Environment, established the Common Terrorism Information Sharing Standards (CTISS) program. The CTISS program allows for business process-driven, performance-based "common standards" for preparing terrorism information for maximum distribution and access, to enable the acquisition, access, retention, production, use, management, and sharing of terrorism information within the ISE. Two categories of common standards are formally identified under CTISS:

  1. Functional Standards - Functional standards set forth rules, conditions, guidelines, and characteristics of data and mission products supporting ISE business process areas.
  2. Technical Standards - Technical standards document specific technical methodologies and practices to design and implement information sharing capability into ISE systems.
Latest CTISS Publications:

Consistent with Guideline 1 of the President's Memorandum of December 2005, Guidelines and Requirements in Support of the Information Sharing Environment, and the Implementing the Recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Act of 2007 (9/11 Commission Act), the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice are responsible for making Common Terrorism Information Sharing Standards (CTISS) available for use by State, local, and tribal governments and the private sector, and requiring its use through grant guidance and other mechanisms, as appropriate.

Update to ISE-Suspicious Activity Reporting (SAR) Functional Standard Provides Greater Privacy and Civil Liberties Protections


On May 21, 2009, the Program Manager, Information Sharing Environment (PM-ISE), issued an update to the ISE-Suspicious Activity Reporting (SAR) Functional Standard (ISE-FS-200). The PM-ISE and its federal partners met with privacy and civil liberties advocates and state, local, and tribal law enforcement officials to better understand their concerns and suggestions for improving the Functional Standard. This updated Functional Standard directly addresses their concerns and incorporates their recommendations.

The ISE-SAR Functional Standard, Version 1.5 directly supports local efforts to fight terrorism-related crime, while at same time protecting the privacy and civil liberties of Americans. The ISE-SAR Functional Standard, Version 1.5:

Initial Suite of Technical Standards Released – Information Assurance, Core Transport, and Identity and Access Management Framework


In accordance with ISE-AM-300, the PM-ISE issued an initial suite of technical standards under the CTISS program for implementing information technology capabilities across the ISE. The ISE technical standards constitute those technical, voluntary consensus standards to be followed by ISE participants and Implementation Agents, and applies to all agencies that support or interface with the ISE. The technical standards issued are as follows:


Accessing CTISS Artifacts

Click here to access CTISS Artifacts including the ISE-FS-200 Version 1.5 Technical Artifact.

CTISS Help Desk

  • Phone Support: 9 AM-8 PM (EST): 1-877-333-5111 or 703-726-1919
  • Email Support: 9 AM-8 PM (EST): NISShelp@ijis.org
  • Web: 24 hours a day, 7 days a week: http://it.ojp.gov/NISS/helpdesk/

Accessing and Using CTISS Publications


The CTISS provides major components to the ISE Enterprise Architecture Framework (EAF) and, more specifically, in the Data, Application and Service, and Technical Partitions of the EAF. The CTISS information and artifacts can be found here, which interfaces with the National Information Exchange Model (NIEM) Tools Registry.

Visit us at http://www.ise.gov