ManTech International received the follow-on contract for the Analytic Space (A-Space) program from the US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). A-Space, which was developed by ManTech, is a collaborative workspace for analysts from 16 different intelligence agencies. The contract is valued at $11 million with a base year and 2 option years and includes Jive Software, NavStar, and SAIC as team members.
A-Space is a joint initiative of DIA and the US Director of National Intelligence (DNI) designed to give analysts secure access to text, graphics, imagery and video intelligence spanning multiple classifications with appropriate security controls. The application, which is similar to Web 2.0 social networking programs, now has over 10,000 users within the intelligence community.
The use of a Web 2.0-like application enables the intelligence community to break down long-standing barriers to sharing information…
Information Week notes that A-Space is a portal that includes a Web-based word processing tool, a wiki-based intelligence community encyclopedia known as Intellipedia, and access to 3 terabyte databases of current raw intel for analysts to sift through. The DNI is adding other resources to A-Space, such as intelligence blogs, social networking capabilities akin to Facebook, secure Web-based e-mail, and more effective search functionality.
Federal Computer Week explains that each analyst on A-Space creates an online personal profile, and colleagues can see what others are working on and the A-Space workspaces that they are using. In addition, users can also post notes on one another’s profiles. A-Space analysts have access to all information at the highest classification level that is accessible through the collaboration environment. They are able to access data from 6 data sources from different agencies, including the US National Security Agency, US State Department and DIA.
Additional Readings
* Wikipedia – A-Space
* Federal Computer Week (Sep 3/08) – A-Space set to launch this month
* DID (May 5/08) – A Military of Millennials
* Small Wars Journal (Nov 27/07) – Intelligence Collection and Sharing
* Information Week (Aug 23/07) – U.S. Spy Agencies Go Web 2.0 In Effort To Better Share Information