1.0 Introduction

1.1 Background

The Intelligence Community (IC) is increasingly challenged by rapidly changing and diverse threats around the world. Concurrently, the growing demand for accurate, relevant, and timely intelligence from a large customer base, including policymakers, warfighters, and law enforcement entities, is straining IC resources available to monitor, process, and report on an explosion of available information. Increased collaboration among IC organizations is essential for the community to capitalize on its aggregate strengths and effectively tackle the challenges in intelligence collection, analysis, and reporting.

The Connectivity, Speed, and Volume (CSV) Task Force, under the direction of the DCI, has set the following goal: "by the year 2005, provide the ability to communicate, coordinate, and share requirements, expertise, products, and feedback among consumers, collectors, analysts, and private sector experts across time and distance, 24 hours a day, seven days a week" (CSV Task Force, 17 June 1998). The Intelligence Community Collaborative Operations Network (ICON) Program Office received the charter to "system engineer an approach to achieve collaborative communications and information systems supporting all elements of the intelligence cycle, so that the IC can operate as an integrated community."

To date, most of the initiatives within the IC have focused on the technical requirements to support IC collaboration. While connectivity and tools provide the infrastructure for collaboration, business processes and organizational culture ultimately determine the effectiveness of collaboration. In practice, many collaborative networks fail due to a lack of attention to these issues. Efforts to facilitate IC collaboration through systems such as IranLink, Mexico Pilot, and Intelink have struggled with business process issues.

The IC Collaboration Baseline Study was commissioned to examine policy, procedural, and cultural barriers to interagency collaboration across the IC. The study was sponsored by the DCI's Community Management Staff, the Executive Agent of the Community Operational Definition of the Agile Intelligence Enterprise (CODA), and the National Intelligence Production Board (NIPB). The Central Intelligence Agency's (CIA) Office of Advanced Analytic Tools (AAT) served as executor of the study. PRC, a subsidiary of Litton Industries, was placed under contract to conduct the study.

1.2 Study Tasks

The focus of the IC Collaboration Baseline Study was on virtual teams of analysts and producers collaborating at the TS/SI/TK level across seven IC Agencies: CIA, National Security Agency (NSA), Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Department of Energy (DOE), and the Department of State's Bureau of Intelligence and Research (State/INR). The three primary goals for the study were to: (1) identify policy, procedural, and cultural barriers to IC collaboration; (2) review academic research and business case studies to identify lessons learned and best practices associated with the use of groupware to support collaboration; and (3) identify strategies to mitigate identified barriers and facilitate collaboration across the IC.

The study identified barriers to IC collaboration through a series of interviews with individuals across the community. NIPB members and their key staff provided senior management perspectives on IC collaboration. The program management teams and users of the Mexico Pilot and IranLink collaboration systems also provided input. In addition, several groups within NSA working collaboration issues, including the NSA Corporate Knowledge Strategist, NSA Collaboration Working Group, Nomogenesis Program, and Collaborative Virtual Workspace (CVW) Program, were interviewed. CIA security professionals also provided input. Appendix C provides a list of the individuals and organizations who participated in the study. Lessons learned from the literature review and case studies provided the basis for mitigation strategies to IC collaboration barriers. This document constitutes the final report for the study.