Interagency Blockchain System ATO Research

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) promotes the U.S. economy and public welfare by providing technical leadership for the nation’s measurement and standards infrastructure.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Information Technology Laboratory (ITL) Computer Security Division (CSD) promotes understanding of new technologies across the nation and U.S. government agencies. Part of this information sharing has been performed by the blockchain and distributed ledger technologies (DLT) program within CSD.  NIST’s responsibilities include the development of management, administrative, and technical standards and guidelines for newly emerging technologies such as blockchain and DLT. In advancing its mission objectives, NIST must evaluate and develop guidance for how multiple U.S. agencies can conduct collaborative, peer-to-peer blockchain and DLT systems.

Blockchain and DLT systems are inherently collaborative solutions, where multiple parties work together towards the system’s goals. As such, it is necessary to understand the complexities that such systems would hold when collaborating between different U.S. government agencies, and as well as multiple layers of government and external organizations. There are many nuances and complexities to discover and overcome, system requirements for running an interagency blockchain system and differences/difficulties in the authority to operate (ATO) process.