TSA Focusing on Data Enhancements to Improve Operations, Deputy CIO Says

The Transportation Security Administration is eyeing enhancements to its data management strategy as part of efforts to improve internal operations.

Kristin Ruiz, deputy chief information officer of the TSA, said the first step for the agency is to catalog disparate data located across various ports of entry, govern its storage and share it responsibly across the enterprise. Ruiz also said that data management plans should account for emerging technologies and threats.

The deputy CIO stated that the agency is building a new, data mesh-based domain name structure and architecture that can protect data based on specific domains without hindering sharing capabilities. Other enhancement goals include customer experience improvements, artificial intelligence and machine learning integration and open architecture adoption, Federal News Network reported Thursday.

The TSA has been improving its agency-wide management capabilities, most notably for cybersecurity.

In July, the agency required oil and gas pipeline owners to test and evaluate cybersecurity incident response plan objectives to ensure their resilience and defense capabilities are up to scratch. In March, the TSA amended some airport and aircraft operator security programs to address persistent threats to critical infrastructure.