[Prev][Next][Index][Thread]
INFOWAR: spy meeting
---------------------------------------------------------
ARS ELECTRONICA FESTIVAL 98
INFOWAR. information.macht.krieg
Linz, Austria, september 07 - 12
http://www.aec.at/infowar
---------------------------------------------------------
International Spies And Analysts Define New Model For Intelligence: Global
Intelligence Forum Brings Together Twenty-Three Countries Including Saudi
Arabia, Japan, And Israel
WASHINGTON, May 23 (PRNewswire) The TV crews are gone and there are no
longer any quiet clusters of hardened intelligence professionals in the
corners of this hotel on the out-skirts of Washington, D.C., but
international intelligence will never be the same. Over five hundred
international spies and intelligence analysts, including representatives
from Saudi Arabia and Japan as well as Israel, mixed easily with their
U.S. counterparts to discuss a new model for intelligence. Sponsored by
OSS Inc. from May 17-21 1998, the event included discussions of pricing,
source validation, asymmetric warfare, intelligence priorities, and
support for civil-military operations. One observer remarked: "I've
never, ever, seen spies discussing their business this openly, and this
may be for the best-they finally seem to understand that it must be run as
a business, and not a boy's club." All agreed that spies and satellites
are still needed, but should be more focused-the new model for national
intelligence places open sources-sources that can be acquired legally and
at low cost-in the forefront. Open sources can also be shared with the
people, the press, and parliament, as well as non-aligned states and
non-state actor groups; and open sources reduce the burden on very risky
and expensive "closed sources" that can then do more against "the hard
targets" such as proliferation, terrorism, and transnational drug dealers.
Dr. Mark Lowenthal, partner in OSS Inc. was careful to note that this does
not mean intelligence community budgets should be cut-the "hard stuff" is
very expensive-but rather than within the existing budgets, there should
be a modest realignment to permit open sources to optimize the all-source
collection and production mix. Conference highlights included an opening
keynote by Mr. Douglas Dearth, dean of the intelligence educators in
Washington, whose sharp remarks on the need to accept the commoditization
and "market-pricing" of intelligence drew quiet gasps from all those
accustomed to having an annual fixed budget and no formal evaluation of
the utility of their products. Mr. Dearth's critical comments on the
American tendency to buy technology and meet payroll, rather than buy
information and produce results, were articulate and to the point and
bring back into the dialogue important ideas first raised by the
Schleisinger Report in 1971. A number of prominent international
technology leaders joined in the argument, with two lines of discussion.
Those with deep private sector experience, such as Mr. Stephen Arnold,
President of Arnold Information Technologies, pointed to the dramatic
growth of private sector capabilities, and assured the international
audience of spies and analysts that they could and should rely on the
private sector to do vastly more open source collection and processing
without themselves having to invest in technology. Others, such as Mr.
Michael Hunter, CEO of i2 Ltd., offered dramatic multi-media presentations
on how private sector technologies for processing secret information,
including offerings from i2, MEMEX, Excalibur, and Calspan, would lead to
an order of magnitude increase in the amount of usable intelligence which
could be derived from all-source information.
Other conference highlights included presentations from the Mr. Alan Fry,
Director of Intelligence for Scotland Yard, and Mr. Eddi Thompson, former
director of intelligence for Euro '96, on the utility of open source
intelligence to support law enforcement, both at the strategic level
against transnational threats including drugs and financial crime; and at
the tactical level where a combination of open sources, closed sources,
and processing tools have created a new form of "intelligence-led
policing" that is sweeping the continent of Europe and beginning to appear
in Asia. Although the conference did not end until the international "job
fair" on the last day, the "big bang" came mid-way through the event when
Mr. Linda Mti, Coordinator of Intelligence for all South African
intelligence agencies (described in the South African press as the South
African "spy chief"), offered a thoughtful and candid assessment of the
differences between the intelligence models of the developed and the
developing worlds. To absolute silence and careful attention from this
international audience of intelligence professionals, Mr. Mti's
presentation could be taken as the true "keynote" of the entire event.
Among his key points: - Developing world intelligence professionals must
understand but not necessarily adopt the practices and perspectives of
developed world intelligence communities-the latter are often too
expensive, too Euro-centric or America-centric, and place no importance on
sustainable development and other issues critical to South African and
other non-aligned nations. - Within the developing world especially, but
also within the developed world, the concept of national security must
shift away from a narrow focus on military defense, and grow to encompass
more complex threats including threats to sustainable development and
cultural integrity. - "Open sources" as understood in the developed world
do not exist in Africa. There is a critical need for creating an African
Information Infrastructure for the continent, but on African terms, and
with a commitment to respecting Africa's unique reliance on off-line
sources, human observation, and cultural contexts for information both
entering and departing the continent.
Mr. Robert Steele, organizer of the conference and a veteran of the U.S.
national and defense intelligence communities who has consulted to
eighteen other governments, summed up Mr. Mti's capstone presentation by
saying: "He's on the mark, and we are delighted to have a distinguished
international intelligence leader establish new standards of focus and
performance. Despite the Commission on Intelligence and IC21 findings,
change is still coming very slowly. Mr. Mti's focus on acting now, on
considering the possibility that the 21st Century may be the century of
African renewal rather than the century of American complacence, is a
useful wake-up call for all of us." OSS Inc., founded in 1992 to advocate
intelligence reform and increased use of open sources in support of
all-source intelligence, manages a series of global and regional
intelligence forums while also offering direct open source intelligence
support to governments and corporations. Its principals include, in
addition to Mr. Steele, The Honorable John Bohn, former CEO of Moody's
Investors Service and former President of the Export-Import Bank; Dr. Mark
Lowenthal, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence
(Functional Analysis) and former Staff Director of the House Permanent
Select Committee on Intelligence; and Mr. Jan Herring, founder of the
business intelligence community in the United States, and specifically of
the Nutra-Sweet, Monsanto, Ford, GM, Philipps Petroleum, and other
business intelligence units regarded as "best in class".
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
You are subscribed to the English language version of INFOWAR
To (un)subscribe the English language version send mail to
infowar-en-request@aec.at (message text 'subscribe'/'unsubscribe')
To (un)subscribe the German language version of send mail to
infowar-dt-request@aec.at (message text 'subscribe'/'unsubscribe')
Send contributions to infowar@aec.at
--------------------------------------------------------------------------