Intelligence community leaders recently unveiled new information-sharing technologies that promise to consolidate links among secret networks, co-opt IT projects into enterprise architecture and launch innovative knowledge distribution systems.

One sign of the cultural and technological shift is the recently established Cross Domain Management Office.

Dale Meyerrose, CIO for the Director of National Intelligence Office, said the new office would dramatically reduce the number of “trusted guard boxes,” or gates that filter information passing among classified networks and databases.

Just a reminder that when I’m not “slamming” the DNI I’m cheering his choice of two key people; one is Eliot Jardines A/DDNI OSINT and the other is Gen. Meyerrose, DNI CIO. These two guys arguably have the toughest jobs in the community; promulgating the use of open sources and squaring away the IC IT infrastructure. The former is in part a cultural issue that is unlikely to be resolved in the near future (I feel for you buddy) but the latter was frequently thought to be unfixable (Virtual Case File anyone?). By all public accounts Gen. Meyerrose is living proof that the impossible can indeed be done, it’ll just take a little longer.

About the Author

Michael Tanji

Michael Tanji spent nearly 20 years in the US intelligence community. Trained in both SIGINT and HUMINT disciplines he has worked at the Defense Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency, and the National Reconnaissance Office. At various points in his career he served as an expert in information warfare, computer network operations, computer forensics, and indications and warning. A veteran of the US Army, Michael has served in both strategic and tactical assignments in the Pacific Theater, the Balkans, and the Middle East.