The Impact Of Organizational Culture On Information Sharing

A key factor in the failure of the intelligence community is the resistance to information sharing. Organizational culture is an essential link in understanding the resistance to information sharing. Using Edgar Schein's organizational culture model, this paper analyzes the organizational culture of the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Bureau Investigation with an eye toward how organizational cultures of the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Bureau impact information sharing. The Department of Homeland Security must identify, understand, and work through the barriers of organizational cultures within the intelligence community. Part of creating a culture of information sharing involves changing the way people value information sharing and collaboration by encouraging behaviors that foster sharing and discouraging those that do not. The Department of Homeland Security lacks several key characteristics in building an organizational culture such as a stable membership and shared history. The Department of Homeland Security is a newly structured organization with multiple agencies and departments with diverse missions. The creation of a unified organizational culture within the Department of Homeland Security will take time to develop because of the magnitude and complexity of the organization. In comparison, the Federal Bureau of Investigation was established in 1908 as a law enforcement-centric organization. However, the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Director, Robert Mueller, changed the organization to threat-based and intelligence driven organization after the events of 9/11. The Federal Bureau of Investigation has maintained its organizational culture while undertaking reorganization. The Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Bureau of Investigation have an opportunity to bridge the information sharing gap through the development of joint threat assessments. The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Homeland Security have some similarities in their missions. The Federal Bureau of Investigation has experience in developing threat assessments and the Department of Homeland Security is required to produce threat assessments. The Federal Bureau of Investigation offers an opportunity to teach and mentor members of the Department of Homeland Security in intelligence functions. If the organizations shared their resources and pooled their knowledge, information would become more transparent.