WASHINGTON, Oct. 2 (UPI) -- The U.S. departments of Justice and Homeland Security are offering three paid fellowships to private-sector technology experts to do information-sharing work.
The fellows will work on the National Information Exchange Model -- a Justice and Homeland Security program to devise uniform data standards for criminal justice, emergency management, intelligence and cargo and person screening agencies across all levels of government.
The work of writing the standards is conducted by volunteer committees of state, federal and local officials, with industry representatives, Paul Wormeli of the IJIS Institute, which represents the private sector in the process, told United Press International.
He said the three major committees “really need strong chiefs of staff to drive their work forward.”
Each fellow will work for one committee, “managing and tracking committee action plans, issue resolution, and operational decision-making activities … staging and reporting on committee meetings, following up on committee decisions, and preparing materials in support of the committee charter for decisions and actions,” according to a statement circulated to IT companies.
Senior U.S. officials are “eager to tap the resources of industry,” said Wormeli. He said the program aimed to get major corporations to allow their top technical experts yearlong sabbaticals to take the fellowships, which would remunerate them at their current wage plus 5 percent.
“We want to leverage the skills of the top people,” said Wormeli.
The fellows will be picked in November and will start work in January next year, said the statement.
