FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 22 , 2008

Statement in Response to U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Science and Technology Letter to the Office of the DNI

A recent letter and press release by Representative Brad Miller, Chairman of a Subcommittee of the House Committee on Science and Technology, discussing the National Counterterrorism Center’s (NCTC) information technology (IT) upgrade program is inconsistent with the facts. The letter implies that there exists a risk to our nation’s security related to the implementation of NCTC’s information technology program, commonly known as Railhead. There has been no degradation in the capability to access, manage and share terrorist information during the life of the Railhead program.

Railhead is a multiple contract venue to support the operations and maintenance of existing IT systems; it replaces and builds new functions for the Center. Fundamentally, it is a series of technology (primarily software) upgrades implemented between now and 2012, rather than all at once to improve mission capabilities for many systems. The Railhead program is not limited to the Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment (TIDE) and NCTC-Online, a web-based site used for sharing terrorist information, but encompasses software upgrades to many systems.

The NCTC's Congressional Oversight Committees have been fully and regularly informed of the status of Railhead. Since the program’s inception in 2007, the Center has provided multiple briefings to the Intelligence Oversight Committees and Staffs on the program’s current status, milestones and deliverables. Railhead has received and continues to receive congressional support for the capabilities enhancements that it is delivering. Regular reviews by NCTC leaders and government managers that identify any program shortcomings are quickly addressed and the appropriate steps are taken to ensure current information systems capabilities are maintained while new enhancements are thoroughly tested and implemented. Representative Miller's Subcommittee has had no interaction with the NCTC or the Intelligence Community on the Railhead Program.

We remain fully committed to improving the nation's capability to detect terrorist activities and share any threat information with law enforcement and intelligence partners at the federal, state, local and tribal levels.