FBI, CIA testing 'Facebook for spies'
Published: 08 Sep 2008 12:27 BST
The CIA, FBI, and US National Security Agency are testing a social-networking site designed for use by analysts within the 16 US intelligence agencies, according to a report on CNN's website.
Instead of posting thoughts on music and films, for example, agents will use the site — 'A-Space' — to share information on terrorist activities and troop movements around the world.
The social-networking site has been undergoing tests for months and is expected to officially launch to the nation's entire intelligence community on 22 September, CNN reported.
"It's every bit Facebook and YouTube for spies, but it's much, much more," Michael Wertheimer, assistant deputy director of National Intelligence for Analysis, told CNN.
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"It's a place where spies can not only meet but share data they've never been able to share before. This is going to give them, for the first time, a chance to think out loud, think in public among their peers, under the protection of an A-Space umbrella," Wertheimer said.
The information posted to the social network is highly classified and won't be accessible by the general public, CNN reported. Access will be limited to intelligence personnel with the proper security clearance and a reason to be examining particular information. A-Space's creators don't want the network to become a gold mine of sensitive information for future double agents.
"We're building [a] mechanism to alert that behaviour. We call that, for lack of a better term, the 'MasterCard', where someone is using their credit card in a way they've never used it before, and it alerts so that maybe that credit card has been stolen," Wertheimer told CNN.
"Same thing here. We're going to actually do patterns on the way people use A-Space," Wertheimer added.
Credit: Creating a 'Facebook for spies' from CNET News.com
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