A-Space - A Place for Secret Agents
Posted by keirsun on August 24, 2007 at 3:52 PM
Jason Bourne (of Bourne films fame) may soon be pounding a computer keyboard in his search for the CIA agents who set him up. The US Director of National Intelligence recently announced plans for a social networking site designed specifically for America's intelligence agencies.
A-Space will reportedly launch in December to the entire American Intelligence community. Modeled after social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook, A-Space will be strictly used internally as a web-based communications tool.
According to a Financial Times report:
"A-Space will be equipped with web-based email and software that recommends areas of interest to the user just like Amazon suggests books to its customers. The site will also allow users to create and modify documents, and determine user privileges, in a similar fashion to Google Documents."
The reported goal of A-Space is to allow for easier internal sharing and processing of information by intelligence analysts, which has been an ongoing effort since the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
The Financial Times report also points out that the Department of National Intelligence has been busy creating a Wikipedia-like information site and a del.icio.us-like bookmarking site for the intelligence community. Users of the upcoming A-Space will also have access to a new national intelligence library.
I just hope, come December, I don't get in trouble for deleting friend requests from government officials.
Comments (2)
Posted on January 28, 2008 4:47 PM
The time has come to start asking questions about how much time secret agents spend surfing the web. In reality, these guys are supposed to be stalking foreign dignitaries and stealing vital data from the secure servers of rival governments. Do they really need to be sending personal surveys to their family, friends and favorite bands?
Posted on January 29, 2008 7:21 PM
I think that the intelligence community is putting themselves at risk of agents being sucked into participating in chain letters threatening bad luck and eternal damnation if you don't immediately fill out the questionnaire and email it to 20 of your closest friends.