WASHINGTON, Feb. 20 (UPI) -- The FBI announced on Friday that it had awarded Raytheon Company a contract to develop the U.S. Law Enforcement National Data Exchange (N-DEx).
The new information sharing program is part of an effort by the U.S. Department of Justice to create a secure network for agents at the federal, state, and local level to collaborate on investigations, according to a news release from the FBI.
"The development and deployment of N-DEx will provide nationwide capability to share information derived from incident, arrest and event reports," said FBI Chief Information Officer Zalmai Azmi. "This will expedite coordination across law enforcement so that we can remain one step ahead of the criminals and terrorist despite jurisdictional boundaries," he said.
N-DEx will facilitate the exchange of information and provide new investigative tools so that law enforcement officials at all levels of an investigation will have more timely, accurate, and complete information. The network will "enable law enforcement agencies to collaborate with one another by connecting the dots between seemingly unrelated criminal incidents," the statement said.
N-DEx will comprise the existing data contained in the FBI's Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) division system, in addition to law enforcement information maintained by local, state, tribal, and federal agencies. Content from the federal level will be provided by various sources, including the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Prisons, FBI and U.S. Marshals.
The new program is the result of broad efforts by law enforcement agencies and Congress to streamline information sharing. The FBI did not disclose a price tag for the Raytheon contract.
