Intelink

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IntelinkU.png

Intelink is the name for a group of secure intranets of the United States Intelligence Community . The first Intelink network was set up in 1994 to take advantage of the emerging Internet . However, this Intelink network was not yet connected to the public Internet. Information was distributed and activities coordinated in this network. Since then, this has developed into an essential ability of the US intelligence services and cooperating organizations to share information and to cooperate across agency boundaries and to fulfill their duties. Intelink refers to the availability of information at various levels of confidentiality over a protected network. One of the key constructs of the Intelink is the Intellipedia , an online database based on MediaWiki . But there are also blogs based on WordPress .

Intelink story

During the Second Gulf War (1990/91) the US armed forces developed considerable dissatisfaction with the available intelligence sources. It was the head of the mission, General Norman Schwarzkopf , who complained that the USIC could not deliver satellite images fast enough. Information had to be gathered from different formats before the military could work with the information.

In 1994 Intelink was activated. The network was only made available to a few users without any compulsory participation or behavioral guidelines. By 1998 it had become an essential part of the intelligence work of the US services.

It was also noteworthy that Intelink was built entirely from commercially available software . At that time (1998) the system was operated with Netscape Navigator and the AltaVista search engine . Security against hacker attacks was achieved by operating the system on a separate network and no computer was also connected to the Internet at the same time ( air gap ). The second protection mechanism required a release of the highest level of secrecy before a password was issued for the hardware located in Fort Meade .

Despite these security measures, all thirteen participating services kept their intranets , which were separated from the Intelink by firewalls . Only finished products are published in the Intelink network; raw data or sources are not disclosed there.

Versions on different intranets

View into a US secure communications center with various terminals for Intelink-S (SIPRNet) and Intelink-TS (JWICS)

Intelink-U

Intelink-U (Intelink-SBU for sensitive but unclassified ) is a variant of Intelink for US federal, appropriately authorized state and tribal authorities as well as local authorities for classified information (for official use only) and Open Source Intelligence (OSINT). Intelink-U was known as Open Source Information System (OSIS) until mid-2006.

Intelink-U uses the DNI-U network.

Intelink-S

Intelink-S (Intelink-Secret or Intelink-SIPRNet) is the version of Intelink used mainly by the Department of Defense , the Department of State (see COREU , SIENA ) and the Department of Justice of the United States. Intelink-S is operated on SIPRNet.

Intelink TS

Intelink-TS (Intelink-SCI) is used by the intelligence community of the United States for the exchange of top secret information. Intelink-TS is operated on JWICS.

Intelink-P

Intelink-P (Intelink-PolicyNet) is operated by the Central Intelligence Agency as the only connection to the White House and other high-ranking consumers of intelligence information. Intelink-P is often referred to as CapNet.

Intelink-C

Intelink-C (Intelink Commonwealth) connects the intelligence agencies of the United States with those of the United Kingdom , Canada and Australia at the level of the Intelink TS. Intelink-C is more commonly referred to by its network name, Stoneghost.

Books and novels

Former NSA employee Fredrick Thomas Martin published his 1999 work "How US Intelligence Built INTELINK - The World's Largest, Most Secure Network" . There he claims to be taking the story and an inside look at the most secret, super-secure intranet of the US intelligence services and providing information that has never been released before. In 2004 the book was no longer available, but reviews were still available on the Internet.

In his novel Rogue Warrior: Task Force Blue by Richard Marcinko , the hero uses Intelink during his mission to fight domestic terrorism in the United States and to shoot the architect of this terror network, who is strongly reminiscent of Ross Perot .

In the novel Threat Vector of Tom Clancy , uses one of the characters Microsoft's Remote Desktop Protocol to the network to achieve a company in the defense sector of the United States and access to Intelink-TS on the Joint Worldwide Intelligence Communications System to obtain.

Individual evidence

  1. a b c d e f g h Peter Gill and Mark Phythian (2013) Intelligence in an Insecure World ; John Wiley & Sons, Chapter 5.
  2. a b c d e f g h Vernon Loeb (1998) Weaving A Web of Secrets; Intranet Transforms Intelligence Sharing ; in The Washington Post on December 1, 1998.
  3. a b c Intelink. In: fas.org. FAS archived from the original on December 2, 2010 ; accessed on January 10, 2017 .
  4. a b Open Source Information System (OSIS). In: fas.org. FAS archived from the original on March 7, 2007 ; accessed on January 10, 2017 .
  5. a b c d e National Intelligence, a consumer's guide, 2009 ( Memento of the original dated May 24, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.dni.gov
  6. ^ Federal Bureau of Investigation - Congressional Testimony Statement of Gary M. Bald Executive Assistant Director National Security Branch Federal Bureau of Investigation Before the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary September 21, 2005
  7. a b Intelligence in the Internet Era - Studies in Intelligence ( Memento of the original from April 22, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.iwar.org.uk
  8. Home Page for Top Secret Intranet: How US Intelligence Built INTELINK - The World's Largest, Most Secure Network
  9. Amazon.com: Top Secret Intranet: How US Intelligence Built Intelink

Web links