This morning the Ministry of National Security launched its Joint Interagency Information Security System Program. The Program was developed by Belizean programmers to monitor and share information from Belize's security forces. We attended the Program launch in Belmopan this morning to find out what role this new system will play in a better oversight of defense operations.
A new state of the art geo-statal reporting program has been developed for use by the Belize Defense Force and the Belize Coast Guard. According to C.E.O. Felix Enriquez, his new program will allow the decision makers in national defense access to realtime information akin to being on the ground with troops in the jungles or on the seas.
Felix Enriquez - C.E.O., Ministry of National Security "JISS stands for the Joint Integrated Security System. It's a homemade, homebuilt, developed program for our security forces. So we have all the rights to it and our people at the various intelligence headquarters within the Belize defense force and coast guard and police will have total access, and they will be the ones managing it and what it is. It offers us as close as we could get to an on time facility pass information from our troops that are on the ground into our servers and so that we could develop the reports that we want to make in a more accurate and efficient manner."
Maurice Rogers is part of the Team that designed the JISS program, and he told us about the program's security features:
Maurice Rogers - KYN TEAM "So first off the bat all transmissions to and from the server are encrypted and that's definitely the first level of security. In terms of physically security all devices to read essentially are required to have biometric authentication. So only authorized personnel are able to access these devices and in terms of physical security of the data all the data is house at a remote secure facility."
JISS joins the already established crime observatory and ERGIS package in providing a technological solutions to Belize's national security concerns.
Felix Enriquez "Our adversaries are using the technology so we have to as well, and we have to get ahead of the game. So we have formed a drone unit for some time now and they have been training with the drones. We have been doing analysis on what type of drones is the ideal ones for us some off the shelf some we are getting from other military organizations, other partners which should be more ideal for use for example in the Maritime areas. But yes technology is a main push for the ministry of national security and we'll continue to grind on that."
The system will give the Ministry information about how to best deploy its scarce resources:
Felix Enriquez "Aside from the drones we are also looking at Satellite imagery which shows us changes on the ground so we could use references that perhaps were not there yesterday but appears today and then make some decisions based on should we be looking into that should we be targeting our surveillance to that area. How many troops should we be sending that kind of thing."
As for the defense forces efforts to fight organized crime at the highest level we wondered how the next mission to intercept a drug plane might be aided by JISS
Felix Enriquez "Our hope is that it makes us more productive in fact we know i will make us more productive. By having the right information we will be better able to decide how much resources we need to deploy and where to deploy."
According to the ministry the overall goals of JISS include Securing citizens, protecting our country's natural resources, and the maintenance of Belize's sovereignty and territorial integrity.
The ministry has previously communicated regionally through a unit called JIYO to track planes and other illicit activities coming from abroad and say that their regional partners are very invested in how Belize moves forward with technology, cybersecurity, cyber defense.
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