WASHINGTON, Oct. 9 (UPI) -- The U.S. government has implemented a new policy aimed at rewarding federal employees for sharing terrorism-related information.
The new policy, announced by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, is part of an effort to encourage the sharing of potentially vital security information between government agencies in order to more effectively counter terrorist threats, the ODNI reported.
Whether individuals participate will be a factor in annual job performance reviews to ensure employees actually start sharing information. The new policy is a move to address criticisms that the intelligence community resisted sharing terrorism-related information, which frustrated efforts to wage effective counter-terrorism operations.
Critics of the information -sharing mandates point to what they say is an essentially closed-off executive branch. They are concerned that despite the incentives, the Bush administration has done little to promote the free flow of information.
ODNI officials, however, are praising the new policy, calling it critical in the fight against terrorism.
"We have taken a critical step toward ensuring that information sharing becomes ingrained in the way the federal government operates," Ambassador Thomas McNamara, program manager for the ODNI Information Sharing Environment, said in a statement.
"This guidance furthers our efforts to remove cultural barriers and create incentives to encourage collaboration that is so critical to our counter-terrorism efforts."
