'Intellipedia' developed for spy research

[David]

AP


WASHINGTON - U.S. intelligence has discovered the wiki.

Based on free software from Wikipedia, officials from the 16 U.S. spy agencies - and even some beyond that - are increasingly using a new internal Web site called "Intellipedia" to research and share ideas on some of the most difficult subjects facing U.S. intelligence.

The Web site looks just like the publicly available Wikipedia, with articles on subjects from North Korea to Osama bin Laden. But this one allows users with the right security clearances to jump in and write their own articles or edit those written by others. They can set up bookmarks and get updates when pages are changed.

"All of these tools ... are in their Model T stage," conceded Sean Dennehy of the CIA's Directorate of Intelligence, who helped develop the Intellipedia.

Yet he and other intelligence officials briefing reporters on the government's attempt to bring cutting-edge technology into its ever-more-youthful work force describe it as a success.

When New York Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle crashed his plane into a Manhattan apartment building this month, officials from the Transportation Security Administration and eight other agencies updated information on the accident 80 times in two hours. The crash wasn't a terror threat, but authorities didn't know that at first.

Don Burke, a CIA officer from the Directorate of Science and Technology, said more than 3,600 users have created log-ons to use the site, providing at least 1,000 edits on various articles on any given day. That includes weekends and the wee hours of the morning.

Contributing to the Intellipedia is generally voluntary, although senior analysts working for National Intelligence Director John Negroponte are using it to write one of the most high-level intelligence assessments on Nigeria.

The contributions will eventually be merged into one document, called a National Intelligence Estimate, for use by the White House and Congress.

Unlike Wikipedia, all the changes on Intellipedia are attributed to the individuals who made them. That leaves drafts and fingerprints, which can be of help in deconstructing faulty assessments such as the prewar intelligence on Iraq.

Security, too, is a concern. The most secret sources and methods aren't included on the site, and there are different versions of Intellipedia available to people with different levels of security clearance.

Nevertheless, tens of thousands of users can potentially access information that - in another era - would have been more closely held.

Still, Michael Wertheimer, Negroponte's assistant deputy director for analysis, sees it as worth the risk because the system appeals to the new generation of intelligence analysts, about half of whom have less than five years' experience. "This is how they like to work," he said.

Getting some traditionalists to contribute takes encouragement. Intellipedia's architects have resorted to sending small, black garden shovels to contributors.

"I dig Intellipedia!" says the handle. "It's wiki, wiki, Baby."

Want to see what it looks like? That you'll have to Google.