The Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004, which directed the establishment of the Information Sharing Environment (ISE), also required the President to designate a Program Manager with government-wide authority to manage the ISE, oversee its implementation, assist in the development of ISE standards and practices, and monitor and assess its implementation by federal agencies.
Accordingly, the President designated the Program Manager and directed that the Office of the PM-ISE be located in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
The current Program Manager, Ambassador Thomas E. McNamara, was appointed by the President in March, 2006.
Thomas E. McNamara, Program Manager
On March 15, 2006, President George W. Bush designated Ambassador Thomas E. McNamara as the Program Manager as established by the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004. Ambassador McNamara brings to the position an extensive background in national security matters, political-military affairs, counter-terrorism, and counter-narcotics.
Ambassador McNamara is a career diplomat who retired from government service in 1998, after which he was the President and CEO of the Americas Society and the Council of the Americas in New York. Following the attacks of September 11th, 2001, Ambassador McNamara was asked to return to the State Department and served as the Senior Advisor for Counter Terrorism and Homeland Security to the Secretary and Deputy Secretary until 2004.
He has extensive experience in political-military affairs, counter-terrorism, counter-narcotics, Latin American, Middle Eastern, African, European, and Russian affairs. His postings overseas include Colombia, Russia, Congo, and France. In the 1980s he was a Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, National Security Council (NSC) Director, and Ambassador to Colombia. On his return from Colombia in 1991, he served President George H.W. Bush as Special Assistant for National Security Affairs before returning to the State Department as Ambassador-at-Large for Counter Terrorism, and Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs. In 1998 he was appointed the Special Negotiator for Panama. Most recently, he has been an Adjunct Professor in the Elliott School of International Affairs at The George Washington University in Washington, D.C.
Ambassador McNamara has B.A. and M.A. degrees in history and political science and an honorary LL.D. He is a member of the American Academy of Diplomacy, Council on Foreign Relations, Latin American Studies Programs of American Universities (LASPAU), and has served on several boards of non-profit organizations. He has written and spoken extensively on national and international security issues in books, academic publications, newspapers, and on radio and TV. Ambassador McNamara biography in PDF.
Susan B. Reingold, Deputy Program Manager
Sue Reingold assumed the job of Deputy Program Manager in November 2005. Prior to that she was Associate Director of the Office of State and Local Government Coordination, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, where her portfolio included coordination and oversight of Departmental activities that supported state, territorial, local and tribal interests in the areas of intelligence and information sharing and collaboration, infrastructure protection, and science and technology.
Before joining DHS at its inception in January 2003, Ms. Reingold managed State and Local Outreach at the Critical Infrastructure Assurance Office, now a part of the Department of Homeland Security. From 2000-2001 Ms. Reingold was a Visiting National Security Agency (NSA) Fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, where she was the Project Manager for the "Dark Winter" Bioterrorism Exercise and contributed to several projects on terrorism, technology and national security. From 1998-2000, Ms. Reingold was on-loan from NSA to the U.S. European Command in Stuttgart, Germany and at the Pentagon as the Deputy Director of the Defense-wide Information Assurance Program Staff. She also spent a year as a Special Assistant to the Chairman and CEO of Analytic Services, Inc. (ANSER), where she managed the initial development of the company's homeland security business.
Prior to 1998, Ms. Reingold served in a variety of positions across the National Security Agency in the Signals Intelligence, Information Assurance, Support Services, Foreign Relations, IG, and Legislative Affairs organizations. Ms. Reingold received a B.S. in the Russian and Hebrew languages, with a teacher's certification from the University of Wisconsin- Madison; studied for a year at The Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Israel; and holds an M.A. in National Security Studies from Georgetown University. Ms. Reingold biography in PDF.
The Business Process Division
Responsible for planning and overseeing the implementation of the requirements, resources, standards, and processes necessary to align priority terrorism information sharing business processes identified in consultation with the Information Sharing Council, with the goals and requirements of the ISE. The Business Process Division is also responsible for planning and overseeing specific programmatic elements that contribute to the overall management of the ISE, including the development of budget-related strategies, training programs, and performance management activities.
The Policy & Planning Division
Responsible for policy issues affecting the Information Sharing Environment (ISE). The Division takes the lead for resolution and deconfliction of government-wide policy issues to advance the maturing of the ISE. This group oversees the issuing of national publications to provide instruction, guidelines, procedures and functional standards for the ISE.
The Technology Division
Provides technical and technology development advice as it relates to the Information Sharing Environment (ISE), including oversight and guidance to the technical implementation of the ISE. The Division is also responsible, in consultation with the Information Sharing Council, for documenting the ISE Enterprise Architecture Framework (ISE EAF) and developing information sharing technical standards. The Technology Division advises the Business Process Division on technology solutions, existing and innovative, that support emerging business process needs and the Policy Division on policy impediments to the technical implementation of the ISE.