Winds of Change.NET: CIA Blogging? A Little Gossip Might Help...

January 14, 2003

CIA Blogging? A Little Gossip Might Help...

by Celeste Bilby at January 14, 2003 12:34 PM

I don't think I'm the first person to suggest this, but I haven't yet seen anyone articulate just how useful weblogs could be for the dissemination of intel information. Right now, this is roughly the way it works: analysts at the CIA and FBI each find out interesting bits of information. Each of them writes a report and sends it on up to their respective superiors. Superior decides wether or not to send it further on, or to act on it, or to share it with anyone else. If superior shares it, the superior at the other agency will decide wether or not its worth passing on. So information travels up the chain in one org and then down the chain in the other before it makes it to someone who would find it useful... and that's if the information even gets shared at all.

The intel community already has a secure intranet, founded with improved access to intel and communications in mind. Blogging software already exists. Wouldn't it be cool if, say, the primary analysts for each country from each of the respective communities got together and had a team weblog?

For instance, analysts at the CIA and FBI for Saudi Arabia each find out interesting bits of information. Each of them writes a report and sends it on up to their respective superiors. Each of them also posts that information to the Saudi Arabia weblog. Each of them reads the items the other analysts have posted. Everyone is better informed, and cryptic clues like "arab men are taking flight training" are less likely to get dropped on the floor or ignored. Comments sections for each of the posts allow analysts in other orgs to add to, or qualify the information. Related blogs get linked on the sidebar. Other cleared personnel who might be maintaining their own weblogs have read access to the data as well. Let it be understood that the information hasn't been vetted, but at the very least, it should give analysts more ideas for areas to investigate.

JK Note: This is a great idea. I gave a presentation last November explaining how blogs can help spread knowledge inside organizations, and how to move forward with such an initiative. If anyone is interested, that presentation is freely available via the web.

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Comments

#1 from Joe Katzman at 5:59 am on Mar 30, 2005

Thanks, David. I've updated the exact link now.

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