Common Information Sharing Standards

Definition
The Common Information Sharing Standards (CISS) program provides standards, or rules, for technology implementation and information sharing processes and products for the ISE. This program was initially known as the "Common Terrorism Information Sharing Standards" program, but over time it became clear that it is not possible to draw arbitrary boundaries around types of information.

Consequently, the CISS program now factors in the need to exchange information with other relevant domains &mdash; such as the critical infrastructure, maritime, and biohazard domains &mdash; which in turn can contribute to counterterrorism investigative and response missions.

The CISS program produces two types of standards:


 * Functional Standards set forth rules, conditions, guidelines, and characteristics of data and mission products supporting ISE business processes (categorized as "government-unique standards"); and
 * Technical Standards document methodologies and practices to design and implement information sharing technology capability into ISE systems in order to enable interoperability and interconnectivity (derived from voluntary consensus standards).