The Foreign Service Journal, January 2007

J A N U A R Y 2 0 0 7 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 9 Intellipedia : 21st-Century Intelligence-Sharing? In late October, officials from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence began talking publicly about a promising initiative to address one of the key findings of the 9/11 Commission: the dangerous ineffi- ciency of stovepiped intelligence work. Known as “Intellipedia,” the initiative is using the Internet to cut through the barriers of structure, rival- ry and habit that have hobbled previ- ous intelligence-sharing efforts. A project of ODNI’s Intelligence Community Enterprise Services of- fice, Intellipedia was launched in April 2006. It uses the same open-source software that runs Wikipedia , the col- laborative, “living” encyclopedia that is continuously developed and updated by users. All 16 intelligence agencies have access to Intellipedia ’s top-secret version, which contained 28,000 pages and had 3,600 users as of October ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In tellipedia ). The program is still being devel- oped, but may offer an alternative to current — admittedly faulty — proce- dures for creating intelligence reports for the president and other policymak- ers. At present, preliminary findings are being assembled for a National Intelligence Estimate on Nigeria ( www.latimes.com/technology/la- na-intel1nov01,1,3120459.story ), and the system is being used to put together the State Department’s annu- al country reports on terrorism. Unlike Wikipedia , Intellipedia does not enforce a “neutral point-of-view policy.” Instead, because collabora- tion and, ultimately, the attainment of a consensus view are the aims, view- points are attributed to the agencies, offices and individuals participating. Like Wikipedia , Intellipedia has admi- nistrative safeguards to prevent mis- use of the system. Officials admit there are risks in making more sensitive information more widely available, but in the words of Michael Wertheimer, ODNI deputy director for analysis, “The key is risk management, not risk avoid- ance” ( www.metimes.com/storyvie w.php?StoryID=20061103-0751 07-4557r ). While there is reluctance among the traditional intelligence community, the new generation of analysts are comfortable with the sys- tem and, in fact, prefer working this way. “Analysts in different agencies that work X or Y can go in and see what other people are doing on subject X or Y and actually add in their two cents’ worth ... or documents that they have,” explains Richard Russell, deputy assis- tant director of national intelligence for information sharing and customer outreach at ODNI. “What we’re after here is decision superiority. We have to get inside the decision cycle of the enemy. We have to be able to discov- er what they’re doing and respond to it effectively” ( www.nationaldefense magazine.org/issues/2006/Novem ber/SecurityBeat.htm#Wik ). Intellipedia allows for constant shared updating with new information and analysis, which offers the possibil- ity of more accurate assessments in real time. And, as some officials have pointed out, dissenting views will be more prominent and doubts about sources will surface earlier and be more difficult to ignore. A work in progress, Intellipedia gives every indication of proving that the whole is indeed greater than the sum of its parts. — Susan Maitra, Senior Editor Spreading the Word Ron Hornbaker’s goal is to “make the whole world a library.” So far his Web site, www.bookcrossing.com , C YBERNOTES I view my number-one task to be a change in the tone and tenor of U.S. foreign policy. I am an internationalist and a multilateralist. ... I will do my utmost to persuade countries literally across the globe that we take them seriously, we listen to their views with respect whether we agree with them or not, and we should find avenues of cooperation, collaboration and alliance, depending on each individual case. — Rep. Tom Lantos, D-Calif., incoming chairman of the House International Relations Committee; the Council on Foreign Relations’ Capital Interview, Nov. 20, www.cfr.org/publication/12054/