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Defense in a wiki world

Military and intelligence agencies look to harness the data-sharing power of new technologies while keeping the risks at bay

360-degree view of defense IT

This report is part of an 1105 Government Information Group 360-degree package on defense information technology initiatives. For full coverage, click here.

In its Aug. 4 issue, Federal Computer Week describes how Air Force researchers are using advanced sensors to improve the interface between pilot and plane.

In its Aug. 11 issue, Washington Technology will focus on companies developing the next waves of warfighting tools, from chemical-based robots to helmets that can read brainwaves.

Also in this report

The Cross Domain Management Office's director explains plans for improving Defense and intelligency agency data-sharing.

Web extra: Q&A with Marianne Bailey

Information sharing, the drumbeat phrase of national defense for seven years, is being matched these days with technologies capable of elevating it from a bumper-sticker slogan to a tool of great power — and commensurate risk.

In their pursuit of those technologies, military and intelligence leaders have been trying to balance their efforts with caution, looking to improve information sharing while keeping a hold on security.

Dale Meyerrose, chief information officer at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, said one key is to develop consistent data standards across the military agencies to help eliminate barriers caused by incompatible data.

The process calls for harmonizing the dozens of standards and protocols military and intelligence agencies use, in a process partially described in periodic reports.

One such harmonization agreement between the intelligence agencies and the Defense Department sets out rules for semantic data interoperability, which involves merging varying approaches to metadata tags.

“It is one of the 37 major initiatives [DOD and the DNI] have undertaken” to reform military and intelligence technologies, Meyerrose said in a recent interview. “We have 12 or 14 of them done, and we will probably have twice that many done before the end of this administration.”

The risks in adopting new information-sharing technology are partially caused by the added power that system users get with Web 2.0 applications such as social-networking mashups and wikis. To maintain information security in the new environment, military leaders are building safeguards into enterprise architecture.

“I think the answer to the security issues is in the platform,” Defense Information Systems Agency CIO John Garing said at the recent AFCEA Defense 2.0 conference in Arlington, Va. “If we don’t secure the platforms, the young people will run right past us.”

“If we have a platform that is inherently secure, that is the way to go,” Garing said.

At the same conference, Navy CIO Robert Carey pointed out the risk barrier inherent in the transition to Web 2.0 technologies. “The question is how do you bring these [Web 2.0] technologies inside the secure environment,” Carey said.

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