All news, All about Intellipedia!

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence is pleased to announce the "DNI Open Source Conference 2008" to be held on Thursday, 11 September and Friday, 12 September, 2008 at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington DC. The conference is free; however, all who wish to attend must register online in advance.The two-day conference will explore a wide range of open source issues and open source best practices for the Intelligence Community and its partners. We invite participants from the broader open source community of interest including academia, think tanks, private industry, federal, state, local and tribal entities, international partners, and the media to attend.

After looking at the break-out sessions, it is unfortunate that below three will be held at the same time. All three look like interesting sessions:

Tags: opensource conference 2008, charlie allen, glenn gaffney, michael hayden, washington dc conference, dni conference, dni open source, chris rasmussen

Posted by eMarv at 10:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I had the great opportunity to speak with Chris Rasmussen, Social Software Knowledge Manager and Trainer, US Intelligence Community, or in other words, one of the pioneers of the Intellipedia and social media movement in the Intelligence Community and the United States government, in general. (His full bio is below.)

We spoke about how he became involved with Intellipedia, the past, present and potential future of Intellipedia, virtual worlds, global collaboration, open source intelligence, mashups (can I call it "intellimashing" :) and purple intelligence. Don't know what purple intelligence is? Well, then you should listen below:

Download the interview!

Chris Rasmussen Bio
Mr. Chris Rasmussen is a social software knowledge manager and trainer within the US Intelligence Community (IC).  Mr. Rasmussen believes that lightweight and inexpensive "social software" tools such as Intellipedia (wiki), blogs, tag|connect (social bookmarking service), widgets, mashups, etc. provide a transparent and effective way to exchange knowledge over the IC enterprise.  These tools, in agency-neutral space, have considerable advantages over exceedingly complex databases and applications often with opaque data access layers isolated within agency footprints.

Mr. Rasmussen is the founder and lead instructor of NGA Social Software 101, which teaches how to use Web 2.0 tools to create and aggregate transparent, agency-neutral, topical knowledge.  The training plan for this course has been modeled by many law enforcement, military, and intelligence organizations.

In addition to social software, Mr. Rasmussen argues for the increased use of podcasts/vodcasts and videogame-based learning for knowledge transfer across the IC enterprise.  Mr. Rasmussen is also an evangelist for the increased use of "open source intelligence"- that gleaned from public documents, databases, blogs, videos, radio broadcasts, newspapers and discussion boards-within the IC.

Mr. Rasmussen holds a BA in History and Masters in National Security Studies.  He was selected as one the "Federal 100" by Federal Computer Week in 2008.  This award is giving to top executives from government, industry and academia that had the greatest impact on the government information systems community.

A special thanks to NGA Public Affairs Office for putting this interview together.

By the way, comments and questions are my new best friends, so please post any comments you may have. Thanks for adding a new friend! :)

Tags: chrisrasmussen, intellipedia, nga, interview, intelligence community, purple intelligence, intellimashing, mashups, social media, collaboration, information sharing, virtual worlds, second life, ivideo, tagconnect, social software, wikipedia, open source intelligence, osint

Posted by eMarv at 02:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Google's Girouard highlights cloud computing's future

He went on to cite the tens of thousands of Google Earth users among the ranks of federal employees. Girourard noted the 80,000 members of the intelligence community who contribute some 5,000 items daily to Intellipedia, an online information pool that closely reflects methods used in the Google-sponsored Wikipedia.Federal agencies increasingly benefit from Google’s collaborative tools, Girourard said.

Just a thought...

BTW, regarding the article in general, cloud computing does make sense, but the bandwidth capacity and reliability needs to be there before everything can move online. Personally, I'd love to save everything online (in a secure area) so I don't have to worry about backups, by house burning down, etc.

Tags: intellipedia, google, google sponsorship of intellipedia, gcn, government computer news, cloud computing, intelligence community

Posted by eMarv at 09:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

First saw this on TIME GOES BY | This Week in Elder News: 5 April 2008 which pointed to the FCW article: Panel: Age doesn't dictate Web 2.0 fluency

It's a 69 year old. For some, this could be surprising. For others that see the light, it probably isn't.

The thing about collaboration, for me at least, is that it is really cultural. Once people see that they are doing things for the greater good and that the world (or at least their world) will be a better place, many people see the light and they contribute. Age is irrelevant!

What do you think?

Tags: intellipedia, time goes by, collaboration, age is irrelevant, information sharing, FCW, elder news

Posted by eMarv at 11:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Why is it news that Google sells to the Intelligence Community? Would it be news if Google sold servers or donated (for that matter) to a group that is looking to end world poverty?

Or are they just piggybacking on Intellipedia's success (not that Google needs it)?

Or could it be just opportunistic PR for Google. Personally, I think it's the latter since I doubt that Google only recently started pursuing government work. 

It also helps to have a CIA Intellipedia expert, like Sean Dennehy, comment about Intellipedia in the same article (though he does not necessarily endorse Google). It adds to Google's credibility (again not that they need it).  

Don't get me wrong, I like Google. I just wanted to point out their cleverness! :) Looks like their innovation does end in the server room! ;-)

Posted by eMarv at 12:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

This doesn't have anything to do with Intellipedia, but it could have implications on the future of the IC... and its probable use of Second Life, for example.

I came across this NASA MMO sources sought notice on FBO and thought it was interesting. I also found the NASA MMO website. (Download a PDF version of the RFI.)

Anyone interested in teaming up ? :)

Blogged with Flock

Tags: intellipedia, nasa mmo, fed biz opps, nasa, mmo, rfi, intelligence community future, virtual worlds, second life

Posted by eMarv at 09:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Just found this ad on computerjobs.com:

Would would apply?

Blogged with Flock

Tags: intellipedia, intellipedia job, SIPRNET, wikipedia

Posted by eMarv at 01:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I just saw this event on August Jackson's blog and thought I'd let you know about it. Here's an extract (with some of my commentary in italics) from the event site:

Any thoughts?

Blogged with Flock

Tags: intellipedia, digital immigrants, digital natives, don burke, sean dennehy, LinkedIn, eMarv, intelligence community, event

Posted by eMarv at 05:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Looks like the Intelligence Community is trying to be a bit more transparent. Always positive! Anyway, thought this AFCEA class might be interesting for Intellipedia blog community members. Let me know how it goes if you decide to go. Or if you have any thoughts on the Intelligence Community's (the US or others) transparency, please share!

Dates: Dec-11-2007 - Dec-13-2007

Classification: Unclassified

Fees:
$1260 Industry/Contractor Rate
$1008 Government/Military Rate

Location: AFCEA Headquarters - Map and Directions

Note: Unclassified! Great for those who need to know how the many intelligence agencies are organized but who don't have a current clearance!

COURSE DESCRIPTION
The U.S. Intelligence Community is faced with new challenges. This top-down course provides an up-to-date understanding of the new and still changing structure and functions of the Intelligence Community and its components. The changing threats and challenges with which they must deal, as well as resources and processes used are covered. The course addresses intelligence programs and provides insight into relations between intelligence producers and policy, military and other consumers, as well as useful information about the interaction between U.S. Intelligence and industry.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND - INDUSTRY AND GOVERNMENT
This course is suitable for industry managers, designers and producers of security and intelligence systems and products, including software and special purpose products. The up-to-date coverage of the changing intelligence community is equally suitable for intelligence professionals proficient in their own services or specialties who have or expect to have responsibilities involving other agencies and services, overview functions or supervision of interfaces between various agency efforts. Past attendance has been divided about equally between students from the government and from industry.

COURSE OUTLINE: The U. S. Intelligence Community: Who Does What, With What, For What?

    Intelligence, Practice and Issues

        * Background of U.S. Intelligence
        * Definitions of Intelligence disciplines
        * Intelligence Process
        * Relationships between Intelligence and Policy
        * Intelligence Issues

    Components and Coordination of the Intelligence Community

        * Organization and Components of the U.S. Intelligence Community
        * The Role of the DCI
        * DNI Staff and Centers
        * Community Management
        * The National Intelligence Council
        * Intelligence Oversight and Management within the Executive Branch
        * Civilian Intelligence Organizations
        * Military Intelligence Components
        * Counterintelligence

    Intelligence Budget Structure

        * NIP (National Intelligence Program)
        * MIP (Military Intelligence Program)

    The Central Intelligence Agency

        * Structure and Functions of the Changing CIA
              o Relationships between CIA and Other Components of the Intelligence Community
        * Intelligence Collection, Analysis and Dissemination
        * CIA Support to Military Intelligence
        * CIA Support to the White House
        * Counterterrorism

    Military Intelligence

        * OSD Oversight
        * Structure and Functions of the Defense Intelligence Agency
        * Support for OSD, JCS, and Operational Commands
        * Military Intelligence: Organization, Roles and Missions
        * Impact and Trends Resulting from Changing World Situation and Operational Experiences

    Reconnaissance and Surveillance

        * National Reconnaissance Office (NRO)
        * Airborne reconnaissance

    The National Security Agency and Central Security Service

        * Role in the Community
        * SIGINT, Infosec, Information Operations
        * US Cryptologic System

    National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA)

        * Origins and Role in the Community
        *
        * Geospatial-intelligence Management US Commercial Imagery

    Federal Bureau of Investigation

        * FBI Organization and Functions
        * Intelligence Functions
        * Counter-Intelligence
        * Relationships with CIA and Other Components of the Intelligence Community

    Nuclear Intelligence and Role of Department of Energy

    Intelligence Community and the Congress

        * Functions of the Oversight Committees
        * Legislation Affecting the Intelligence Community
        * Trends

    Intelligence and Industry

        * Relationship Between Intelligence Components and the Private Sector
        * Intelligence Research and Development

Blogged with Flock

Tags: afcea, intelligence community, nga, nro, military intelligence, cia, dni, counterintelligence, fbi, nsa, sigint, osd, intelligence history, US intelligence

Posted by eMarv at 02:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I came across a post on the MAZZ-INT blog on AFCEA's website. It appears that he went to the Analytic Transformation conference (that I really wanted to go to :) and from what he wrote, it appears that he has seen this before to some extent. Not the specific technologies that are being used in Intel 2.0 (e.g. Intellipedia and A-Space), but the thought processes behind them. And he notes the following at the end of his post:

Going back to the future, it is worth remembering those CMS [what some think of as the predecessor to the DNI] IC collaboration conferences showed, and the 9-11 and WMD commissions found, that IT tools and DCIDs don’t naturally lead to collaboration or intelligence sharing. The captain in Cool Hand Luke learning that he could not mandate communication should be a cautionary tale for the IC on this journey to transform analysis.

My advice to the IC is this: get the tools discussed in Chicago to transform analysis through collaboration and intelligence sharing in place quickly, but do not expect this behavior to be commonplace until the community leadership models it, values it, and incentivizes it.

In his post and words, I see skeptical optimism in his words. They are the words of someone who has seen and heard this before but is hopeful that this time it will be different.

So the real question to the entire community is: What is going to be different about this time around?

Anyone care to elaborate or speculate?

One note, based on Jesse Wilson's comments regarding General Cartwright, I think some leaders are already modeling and valuing "it." Now let's see if they incentivize it!

Posted by eMarv at 11:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Just came across Jesse Wilson's post addressing some of Intellipedia's criticisms. It is good to get more perspective from what appears to be a person that actually uses Intellipedia (since he states he works for the government and writes as if he actually has personally used it).

The 3 criticisms he addresses are: (1) seniors won’t use it; (2) it perpetuates bad information; and (3) its never really useable 

I think that 2nd and 3rd criticisms can be dispelled for the same reasons that Wikipedia works. The first criticism and Jesse's response is more interesting though. Check it out and let me know what you think?

I'll let you know what I think after some comments have been posted... 

One thing that will be curious to see is whether General Cartwright will bring his Command & Control blog to the Pentagon as Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, which Spook86 discusses in his "In From the Cold" Blog. Anyone know?

Posted by eMarv at 08:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I referred to the INSA Analytic Tansformation conference in a previous post and a friend sent me a link to the INSA Analytic Transformation presentations in video. (Thanks friend!)

I haven't had a chance to watch them yet, but feel free to take a look at them and post your thoughts and comments (good or bad) here. 

The one that might be interesting is: A-Space: Bringing Web 2.0 to IC Collaboration by Robert Cardillo

I'm listening to it and one interesting stat is that 61% of employees at DIA have been at DIA under 5 years. Interesting!

Another quote (which is kinda scary, but true) is "we don't know what we know." 

One question that was presented was curious: "What tests have been done to demonstrate the utility of A-Space?" 

My answer: how can you really test a social network? You can test its features, but the most important part of social software is the people that will on the network. A social network could have the greatest features in the world, but if noone uses it, it's worthless.

another question presented to Mr. Cardillo: "Do you see a place for a Second Life-like concept in the IC?"

his answer: "That's where these people have these fictitious lives on the Net. I don't think so, I hope not."

my answer: He probably doesn't really know what it is so he may have been a little premature in stating that he doesn't think especially since Sean Dennehy, the CIA's Chief of Intellipedia development, recently was in FCW article:

Dennehy added that some users are asking for a virtual world for the intelligence community similar to Second Life.

“I think it is a no-brainer,” he said. “We could use it for training and other things.”

Hey if the CDC has Hygeia Philo, the virtual public health worker in the "virtual CDC" (in Second Life), why can't the IC have virtual workers?

An even better reason why the US Intelligence Community should be on Second Life is here. Scary... The US IC may need to speak with their Aussie counterparts...

Posted by eMarv at 11:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Just saw this on InformationWeek's website where Dr. Wertheimer explains A-Space further:

In December, the DNI will launch A-Space, a portal that will eventually include everything from wikis, blogs, social networking and personalization to RSS feeds, collaborative Web-based word processing, mash-ups, and content tagging all built atop an underlying services-oriented architecture.

A-Space will begin life as a portal that includes a Web-based word processing tool akin to Google Docs, a wiki-based intelligence community encyclopedia known as Intellipedia [self-referencing link, I gotta get links somehow :) ] and access to three "huge, terabyte databases" of current raw intel for analysts to sift through. It'll be scaled for 10,000 users at day one. By the end of 2008, the DNI hopes to bring in other resources like intelligence blogs, social networking capabilities akin to a Facebook for spooks, secure Web-based e-mail, better search functionality, and much more.

So the reality is that true social networking capabilities will not be available until 2008. That's disappointing... More on this later (if I remember), I really need to get some sleep. (It's 4AM.)

BTW, I suggest that you read the entire article. One particularly curious thing I found: "The DNI has even been in talks with IBM about how to put 3-D gaming to work to do analytical problem solving."

Why only IBM, why aren't they talking to MMOGs?

Posted by eMarv at 02:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Don't get me wrong. I don't think that blind friend requests are necessarily a bad thing (after all I do accept practically all friend requests on LinkedIn)... I'm pretty sure there probably won't be too many SPAM profiles on it...

Anyways, I must say that I have some mixed feelings about A-Space (maybe because I'm not on it...). On the positive note, I think it is great that the Intelligence Community is expanding its thinking on need to share/write to release vs need to know/write to captivity. I think that A-Space could really enable folks to come closer together online while they are disbursed throughout. And the more people know each, the easier it is for them to share information with their friends.

Actually thinking about this further, this could help enable the Intelligence Community to become more disbursed (so that many agencies do not have to be so close to DC), which in turn could have many other effects including movement of jobs away from DC and (since I'm in real estate, I have to think about real estate) a potentially greater flattening of real estate values in the DC area (maybe I'll write a post about this on the real estate blog). But I'm getting ahead of myself, back to A-Space...

Rethinking my original mixed feelings, I don't think there is anything incredibly negative about it. Sure, people will have to learn a new system, but guess what, this system has not been created for the backwards-thinkers that purely think that "Loose Lips Sink Ships" because in reality loose lips among friends with the same access and that are generally working together for a better world is a good thing. Other arguments against may be: "I already have soooo much to do, now you're giving me another place to check for stuff." My rebuff to that would be, firstly, (if A-Space is like outside social networks), it will not necessarily be a place to create content... ooops... I reread the FT.com article and noticed the following (probably from Dr. Wertheimer's comments):

A-Space will be equipped with web-based email and software that recommends areas of interest to the user just like Amazon suggests books to its customers. The site will also allow users to create and modify documents, and determine user privileges, in a similar fashion to Google Documents.

So actually this could be a competitor for Intellipedia, but I sure hope it isn't. I don't think folks need another place to create items of interest. So the "another place to check" argument could be valid. I wonder how they will address that...

Looking at the rest of the extract above, I think that the Amazon-like recommendations could be helpful. However, I think that the true value of a social network is in connecting people because others can find out about people they don't know through their interests, past experiences, etc and then connect with them.

It will be interesting to see how quickly the community adopts A-Space and what percentage of the community will actually create a profile on A-Space so that they can reach critical mass because a social network without a good percentage (maybe in the Intel Community, that's 50% or so) of members is worthless. All they would be doing is connecting with people they know.  

So we'll see what happens...

BTW, I think I'd like to attend the conference that Dr. Fingar referred to in the article:

In September, the DNI and the Intelligence and National Security Alliance, a public-private intelligence group, will hold a conference to enlist support and ideas from the private sector and academia.

Found it on the INSA site, costs $695 for non-government non-INSA members, 5-day conference held in Chicago (9/4-9/6), online and in DC (10/11). 

One final thought, I wonder what role the Program Manager of the Information Sharing Environment played, if any, in the implementation of A-Space and for that matter Intellipedia and the IC del.icio.us equivalent. It says on their website that they are "responsible for information across the federal government..." But they haven't had a press release since April 2007.

BTW, I first found out about A-Space on the TechDirt Blog. And saw the article they referenced on FT.com.

Posted by eMarv at 01:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Briefing on ‘The Intellipedians’ The social software movement within the U.S. Intelligence Community

from the Federal Computer Week website:
In this Web audio-slide presentation, Chris Rasmussen, Knowledge Management Officer, Intellipedia, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, Department of Defense, talks about what it’s like to work as an Intellipedian, the rules they live by, and how the new tools are helping transform the ways of the intelligence-processing for good. Rasmussen made this presentation at FCW’s recent Spring Government CIO Summit, in Ft. Myers, Fla.

comments:
This is a very interesting presentation from one of the forward-thinkers in the government. It shows what some folks in the government are really doing to collaborate and create a better government and in reality a better place to live for all of us.

BTW, I do hope that General Clapper has signed into Intellipedia so that he doesn't get his Intellipedia shovel taken away... ;-)

Great work Intellipedians!

UPDATE June 2008: You may also be interested in our exclusive interview with Chris Rasmussen. Enjoy!

Posted by eMarv at 12:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I just saw this story on AlwaysOn with a link the ABC News blog post. Here's an extract that sums up the main point of the post:

The CIA recently updated its policies on Freedom of Information Act requests to allow bloggers to qualify for special treatment once reserved for old-school reporters. And last August, the NSA issued a directive to its employees to report leaks of classified information to the media -- "including blogs," the order said.

My initial question is how can I get on the list so I can receive classified report leaks ;-), but seriously, this is good news for bloggers. Go bloggers!

My second thought is: Would internal (meaning CIA/NSA or in general, Intelligence Community) bloggers and for that matter Intellipedians be allowed to request information for their blogs or Intellipedia using FOIA or would they already have that information available?

BTW, I wonder how they define blogger. Would someone that set up a blog a couple of weeks ago be able to have the same privileges? (I'm not saying that they shouldn't, especially if in those 2 weeks that person has been an excellent blogger.)

Just food for thought while I create a real Intellipedia-related post...

Posted by eMarv at 01:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Blogs and wikis are the PRESENT and the near future!

I think that eventually voice recording, search and retreival will play a larger part of our lives. We are already starting to see it with podcasts, but as it becomes easier and easier to post, search and retrieve voice, we will start seeing more and more podcasts or vlogs (voice logs) instead of regular old web 2.0 blogs. :) Maybe web 3.0 or 4.0 is where voice rules. We'll see. I wonder how voice could work with wikis though... Imagine hearing an article from multiple people. It wouldn't be pretty... ;-)

While I'm pondering, something else that I think will be the future of spying (which I have previously mentioned) is virtual worlds like Second Life. I actually think that virtual worlds will eventually (in 10 years or so) become a part of all of our lives.

But I digress (maybe because I haven't posted to any of the blogs in a while, busy on vacation and trying to buy as-is investment property :), what does this have to do with Intellipedia? Nothing exactly, but it does have to do with improving the Intel Community.

My hope is that eventually all "good" (I know, I know, what's good?) intel organizations around the world will work together. So I leave you with this question, what can we do to enable that kind of collaboration?

BTW, here's the link to the ZDNet Government Blog post. 

Posted by eMarv at 11:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I found another thought-provoking post by Juan Freire today (while vacationing in Panama, physically in Albrook Mall in front of Gelarti where I happened to come across a wireless connection :) called: Innovación en las agencias de inteligencia: EEUU vs. España or Intelligence agency innovation: USA vs. Spain

the key paragraph is the last one which states:

O sea, el CNI está dando los mismos pasos que las agencias estadounidenses dieron hace ya varias décadas. Buscan en la universidad española el desarrollo de herramientas informáticas y sistemas de gestión de la información. Pero la universidad en España es el “mundo 1.0” por excelencia tanto por el tipo de herramientas que se utilizan como por los modelos de colaboración con los que trabajan y, especialmente, por su comprensión del mundo que nos rodea. Puede ser anecdótico, pero el artículo presenta como uno de los grandes objetivos de la colaboración entre universidades y CNI la edición de una revista semestral sobre inteligencia, por supuesto en papel!!!. Desconozco cuales son los objetivos prioritarios de nuestros espías pero harían bien en “perder” un poco de tiempo en espiar a sus colegas americanos, o al menos en leer el NY Times (ya que blogs y wikis seguramente no sean fuentes demasiado fiables).

translation:

In other words, the CNI (Spanish Intel Agency) is taking the same steps that the US Intelligence Agencies took several decades ago. They are looking to the Spanish University for information tools and systems... But the University of Spain is "world 1.0" in excellence as well as for the types of tools they use like their collaboration methods and especially for their understanding of the world around us. It may be ironic, but the article presents the paper magazine issued every semester as one of the great collaboration objective!!! [Juan] is unaware of [their] spies objectives, but they would do well by saving a little time by spying on their US colleagues or at least reading the NY Times (since blogs and wikis surely can't be trusted).

All I can say is I agree! Actually wouldn't it get us to Intel 3.0, if we (all "good" intel agencies) could all work together? What a concept? ;-)  

Posted by eMarv at 04:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)