Breeze perspectives : Social networking, CIA style
A-space will mirror MySpace and Facebook, keep intelligence agency occupied
Posted on August 30, 2007
Who knew major social networks among teens and adults such as Facebook and MySpace would be the basis on which a CIA communication network would be developed? On Aug. 21 the Financial Times reported the surprising intentions of the CIA to introduce an internal communication tool inspired by these social networking sites.
A-space, due to appear in December, is a new networking site that intends to establish a stronger and more reliable communication method among intelligence agents. Web-based e-mails and software, as well as the ability to create and revise documents, are among the few new communication methods offered through A-Space.
A-Space’s launch is a desperate effort to prevent miscommunication and incorrect analyses of intelligence data, as was the case in the 9/11 terrorists attacks and the governments’ assumption that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. But how desperate can the CIA be to turn to the inspiration of sites like Facebook and MySpace for help?
With A-Space, CIA agents can now kick back, chat and goof off while on duty. I wonder if the Facebook group “I wish my homework was asexual so it would do itself” will be a hit on A-Space as “I wish my undercover job was asexual?” Will each of the agents have their own profile? Pictures? Gripping undercover stories? These are some of the questions left unanswered as the CIA attempts to gain support for A-space from various other intelligence agencies.
According to Mike Wertheimer, the assistant deputy director and chieftechnology officer of the office of the deputy director of national intelligence for analysis, this new networking tool will be effective in improving some of the communication setbacks posed between central intelligence agents. True, but this network may cause a huge distraction to CIA employees, not to mention the catastrophes the network could cause if it were to land in the wrong hands.
Still, the CIA seems to be ignoring the drawbacks of launching such a dangerous network. Although the idea will be beneficial for internal communication as a method of connecting with other intelligence agents or communicating updates on internal operation affairs, it could lead to even more intelligence mishaps. One hack could lead to the end of the entire network or even worse an entire CIA operation, possibly putting the United States’ safety at risk.
“We are willing to experiment in ways that we have never experimented before,” said Wertheimer. Experimentation is a high risk and could lead to the very thing the CIA is trying to avoid: risking the nation’s safety. There are many other, more logical, methods of achieving a stable communication method.
Instead of focusing so much energy and time on A-space, numerous agencies should put their resources together to brainstorm other safer methods of communicating. I am sure the atypical, super intelligent, computer-programming geek down at the CIA can come up with something a bit more clever than a networking site – perhaps even an à la mode gadget we could see James Bond using.
However, it seems that the Office of the Director of National Intelligence has had previous experiences regarding intelligence sites based off of other popular sites, such as Wikipedia, (they call it Intellipedia…clever) their version of del.icio.us, a social bookmarking site.
The Director of National Intelligence and the Intelligence and National Security Alliance, a public-private intelligence group, will attend a conference in September to try to gain support from the academia and the private sector to officially create the A-space network. Hopefully this meeting will be the end of the CIA’s madness.
The Chief Executives of Facebook and MySpace were also invited to the conference. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerburg rejected the offer due to scheduling variance. I wonder if he felt uneasy about the whole idea too?
Parvina Mamatova is a freshman SMAD major.