The Next-Generation Incident

Command System (NICS)

Paul Breimyer, Ph.D.

15 NOV 2013

UNCLASSIFIED

UNCLASSIFIED

Supported by Dr. Robert Griffin DHS Science & Technology

NICS - 2

• Program Overview

• NSTIC* Pilot

• Demonstration

Outline

* NSTIC = National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace

NICS - 3

MIT Lincoln Laboratory

Westford, MA

Socorro, NM

Kwajalein, Marshall Islands

Lexington, MA

Mission

Technology in Support of National Security

Main Roles

• System architecture engineering

• Long-term technology development

• Rapid system prototyping and transition

Orlando, FL

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Disaster Management Capability Shortfalls Persist

Hurricane Sandy (2013)

Hurricane Katrina (2003)

9/11 (2001)

Gulf Oil Spill (2010)

Significant Need For A Common Integration Platform

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Homeland Disaster Response

Technical Challenge: Organize, coordinate, and command the

efforts of dozens of agencies and thousands of responders

1 10 100 1K 10K 100K

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Number of Responders

Co

mm

an

d L

evels

*

Resource

Challenges

Command

& Control

Challenges

“Extreme Events”

Medical

Response

Train

Wreck

Massive

Earthquake

HazMat

Scale

Co

mp

lex

ity

*Assumes 5 person span of command

(nominal Incident Command System standard)

• Safety

• Rescue

• Restore order

• Protect property

First Responder Mission

• State All-Risk/All-Hazard agency

• Significant scope of responsibility

• Forward-leaning agency

Partnership with

CAL FIRE (Since 2007)

• Complexity

• Scale

• Harsh Environments

Challenges

Wildland

Fire

Fire

Siege

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NICS Vision

Capability Gap:

Multi-organizational collaboration is severely hampered by a lack of shared

situational awareness; Contributing factors:

- Vendor market motivated to fragment FR users and organizations

- Uneven capabilities across organizations

- Costs exclude many organizations

- Organizations use different tools

Approach:

Develop a national platform that:

- Encourages vendor participation (i.e., “Apps” Model with Open

Standards)

- Is as inexpensive as possible

- Is scalable at a national level

- Provides a common platform in support of NIMS ICS

- Provides a platform to develop and evaluate novel capabilities

NICS is building a common platform available at a

national scale

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NICS System Overview

Emergency

Operations Centers External Data

• Satellite Imagery

• Weather

• Historical Maps

• Geographic Information System

Tactical Aerial Surveillance

Imagery

Mobile

Displays &

Collaboration

Police Hazmat National Guard

Fire Medical DoD FEMA Coast Guard

Citizen

Reporting

Distributed

Servers

GPS

Tracking

Reports

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NICS: Web-Based Collaborative Online Environment

Challenge: Provide distributed situational awareness for Tired-Dirty-Hungry Responders

Approach: Develop simple, web-based collaborative online situational awareness interface

• Picture is worth 1,000 words

• Improves essential human

communication: sketch,

gesture, speech

• Incidents

• Maps & Data

• Real-Time Collaboration

• Text Chat

• Field Reports

• Apps

• Tired-Dirty-Hungry Interface

…

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California Testbed Status

• Organic NICS User Group

Forming (200+ organizations)

• Annual NICS User Conference:

27-28 Feb 2013, Riverside, CA

─ 60+ Organizations:

─ Fire, Law, Medical,

OES/OEM/EMA, Private

Industry, Utilities, NGOs,

Tribal Partners, etc.

Notable 2013 Incidents

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Recent NICS Highlights

Ventura CA “Springs” Fire

MAY 2013 (~30K acres)

“Nemo” Blizzard

FEB 2013

“Rim” Fire in Yosemite, CA

SEP 2013 (~235K acres)

“NICS turns 12 Hours into 12 Minutes” - NICS Users’ Group tagline

(Attributed to CAL FIRE Chief Marc Hafner)

• Primary information system in EOC for

CAL FIRE Incident Management Team

and partners

• Rapid integration of multiple sensor

platforms

• First method for UAV data

dissemination

• Leveraged by Statewide Incident

Management Team (IMT)

• Integrated Real-Time IR sensor SA led

to protection of critical infrastructure

asset

• Employed by MA NG for resource

management and SA

• Main display in Joint Operations

Center

• Used to coordinate with MA EMA

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Third Party “App” Integration

DARPA sponsoring

Metron Inc. to integrate

with NICS; 23 CA orgs

online

CA Utility provider

integrating weather

station data into NICS

DeLorme modified their

flagship hand-held GPS

product to interface

with NICS

…

First Responders Driving Industry to

Open Interfaces for NICS Compatibility

App Store

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NICS Evolution

Limited Objective

Experiment Riverside, CA

All Hazards Response

2009 2010 Today National Guard • MA Joint Operations Center

• HQ and other states (in discussion)

• DHS S&T continues as technical innovation sponsor

• Technical vision developed through broad engagement

across the Homeland Protection enterprise

- First Responders, National Guard, USCG, FEMA, …

Fire Department of New York • ‘Higher Command’ SA

Emergency Management Agencies • California, Massachusetts

• FEMA: HSEEP-EP

Broad CA Use

• CAL FIRE ‘Operationalizing’ • Statewide, San Diego node

• Diverse operations

Wildfire Response

US Coast Guard • Mobile

applications

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• Program Overview

• NSTIC* Pilot

• Demonstration

Outline

* NSTIC = National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace

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NSTIC* AXN Pilot - Overview

Pilot Program Outcome: Implement a user-centric online Identity Ecosystem and demonstrate an Attribute

Exchange Trust Framework using the ID Dataweb (IDW) Attribute Exchange Network (AXN)

Project Approach: • Demonstrate online attribute exchange operations and basic features of an attribute exchange trust framework

– User, AP, IdP, and RP interfaces and process/data flows

– Legal, policy, and technical interoperability, security, and scalability

– Business and market monetization models

– Assessor roles and processes

Project Objectives: • Simplify AP, RP, and IdP participation, deploy new online services and demonstrate asset monetization via the IDW

AXN platform using:

– Real-time AP online verification services

– Out of band verification services – SMS to device, device IDs, Postal mail AP service - PIN code mail piece

• Live user data from commercial and government RPs

• RP billing (monthly) and AP/IdP transaction/payment statements

• Commercial contracts and Terms of Service that transition pilots to commercial operations

NSTIC Pilot Use Case Scenarios: • Basic Use Case scenarios will initially be limited to key identity attributes: Name, e-mail, Address, Telephone

Number (NEAT) and sending one-time passwords via SMS to a mobile device

• Increasingly complex and advanced Use Cases will include additional attributes, interoperability between an OpenID

or SAML credential, CAC/PIV card credentials, and identity linkage to end-user devices

• For each RP Use Case: Free market trial of verified attribute services for 180 days or 50,000 users, whichever

occurs first

© 2013 Criterion Systems, Inc. Proprietary and Confidential Page

14 Criterion Systems, Inc. retains ownership of its proprietary information in this presentation.

* NSTIC = National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace

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An Example User Experience

The consumer has or creates a username and password with an Identity Provider, Google.

The consumer browses to a new web site for the first time to create an account.

The web site is part of an industry Trust Framework and asks the user if they would like to use their Google Identity to access the site.

The user gives permission for the Attribute Exchange Network to verify their information using real-time and out of band methods.

Attribute Provider (e.g., LexisNexis, Experian) responds and verifies the user’s information including age.

The site authenticates the user with the verified user information, and the user makes a purchase with their new account relationship.

The user goes to a new site, creates a new account using their verified attributes, and completes a purchase with their new account.

The web site needs to verify the users age. The user asserts their attribute information including age at the web site.

The user securely manages their information shared with each account via the Attribute Exchange Network.

© 2013 Criterion Systems, Inc. Proprietary and Confidential Criterion Systems, Inc. retains ownership of its proprietary information in this presentation.

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The Identity Ecosystem

Trust Framework

The rules regarding Identity Management in a specified Industry or Eco-system. These rules define how the various providers interoperate in terms of business, legal, technical and privacy guidelines.

Relying Parties (RP)

Relying parties are channels/web sites that would like to to enable consumers to use their existing Identity Provider credentials to gain access. Examples include any website, mobile app that requires a login.

Identity Providers (IDP)

Entities that issue persistent Identity credentials and support verification of the name, address, email and telephone number of a user. Examples include Google, Facebook, AOL, Verizon, AT&T, Department of Homeland Security, etc.

Attribute Providers (AP)

Third parties that can provide or verify information about a user. Examples include credit bureaus, federal / state licensing commissions, relying parties who have collected profile information, etc.

Attribute Exchange Network (AXN)

The network that facilitates the exchange of information between RP’s, IDP’s and AP’s based upon the business rules and market model that can operate within the guidelines of a Trust Framework.

© 2013 Criterion Systems, Inc. Proprietary and Confidential Criterion Systems, Inc. retains ownership of its proprietary information in this presentation.

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NICS AXN Interaction

NICS Login

Page &

RP

NICS Credentials NICS IDP

3rd Party RPs

Attribute Exchange Network (AXN)

Authorization

Decision

User

Attributes

= NICS Component

= AXN Component

IDPs APs

NICS

Access

Yes

No

RP = Relying Parties

IDP = Identity Providers

AP = Attribute Providers

User &

Session

Tokens

User

Attribute

Request

NICS

Token

Manager

Legend

Send:

NICS - 18

• Program Overview

• NSTIC* Pilot

• Demonstration

Outline

* NSTIC = National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace