Cloudy future in American. Informatization in the service of intelligence

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Cloudy future in American. Informatization in the service of intelligence

In March, 2013 of the year expires, the time allotted by James Klapper to form and begin operation of the modern information infrastructure of the US intelligence community, the full capabilities of which will be achieved by the 2018 year. The bet is made on the technology, received the name "Cloud computing." According to experts, the formation of a single distributed cloud computing environment will help to achieve budget savings and provide a new level of information security. What are the Americans ready for in pursuit of information superiority? How can we answer?

Through 100 years after the invention of the radio, the next stage of the introduction of information technology in military affairs began. Now there is a transition to the combined use of advanced achievements in combat control, communications, computing, reconnaissance and surveillance systems, high-precision weapons long-range, unmanned and robotic weapons of warfare. The difference is only in the scale of what is happening. In fact, a revolution began in military affairs, the main purpose of which was the widespread informatization and automation of the processes of warfare.

It is quite natural that informatization has also affected intelligence, making it more complex, timely and reliable. As former CIA director David Petraeus noted in his time, “in recent years there has been an increase in the capabilities of such intelligence disciplines as radio and radio engineering, specific, special technical intelligence, and it was primarily associated with the spread of information technology. But a real breakthrough was achieved through the integration of these intelligence disciplines, as well as the coordination and cooperation of all elements of intelligence. "

START REFORM

The US intelligence community is a collection of federal agencies, organizations and services that perform tasks to provide the top military and political leadership of the country with the necessary information in the interests of regulating foreign and domestic policy and ensuring the national security of the state. It includes federal departments that can be divided into two types - military and non-military. Membership in the military is determined by administrative subordination to the Ministry of Defense: the National Security Directorate (NSA); Intelligence Agency of the Ministry of Defense (RUMO); National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NUGR); National Aerospace Intelligence (NUVKR); intelligence agencies of the land forces, air force, navy and marines.

Non-military members of the intelligence community are represented by eight structures: the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DPR); Central Intelligence Agency (CIA); The Department of Intelligence and Research; Federal Bureau of Investigation of the Ministry of Justice; the intelligence and security department of the Anti-Drug Administration; Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection Division of the Ministry of Homeland Security (MVB); Coast security; Department of Intelligence and Information and Analytical Activities of the Ministry of Finance; intelligence department of the Ministry of Energy.

During the existence of the intelligence community, ups and downs were noted, various kinds of reorganizations were carried out, the tasks of its members were refined and redistributed. But despite this, for a long time it was impossible to achieve real integration of separate departments into a single community. It was ridiculous when security services used communication firewalls - firewalls (not to ensure the security of resources on the Network), but to restrict the access of other members of the intelligence community to their information.

It was the lack of interaction, according to a number of American analysts, that caused many errors leading to disastrous consequences. Therefore, the formation of the so-called unified information and communication space within the entire intelligence community has become one of the main activities of the apparatus of the first national intelligence director John Negroponte. To this end, a special position of a project manager was introduced in the director’s office, a number of new centers were created, and documents were issued defining the interaction and organization of the work of members of the intelligence community. But, despite all the efforts being made to form a unified information and communication space (UISP), to make decisions about the need to form new digital databases and develop plans for creating a centralized system for training information and analytical services, only his successor Mike McConnell achieved the first results.

Unlike his predecessor, McConnell, who had been in office for less than two years, was able to overcome most of the technological, organizational and, most importantly, bureaucratic obstacles and form a single community of dissociated departments from 17. It was under him that a new information retrieval system such as Google was launched, uniting the databases of all US intelligence agencies and, for the first time after almost 10 years of bureaucratic confusion, allowed employees of information and analytical divisions to access all materials of interest.

The deployment of such a system was impossible several years ago, when there was an interdepartmental struggle in full swing, and each service carried out its programs for developing and implementing information solutions. At the same time, the unification of all departments of the intelligence community by a single search and postal service was not an end in itself. The main thing, according to McConnell, was to increase the effectiveness of information and intelligence activities, which directly depends on the level of information exchange. To achieve this, the staff of the director of national intelligence carried out a whole range of different activities.

Among them - the creation of a library of national intelligence; the formation of a common analytical space (A-Space), functioning as a special application of the global intelligence information transfer system JWICS. Development of a regularly updated matrix of national intelligence priorities (National Intelligence Priorities Framework), which is a special tool for determining intelligence information needs and adjustments to meet the tasks of the extractive and analytical units. Formation within the framework of the intelligence community of interdepartmental multifunctional analytical groups for solving the most complex and urgent RASER (Rapid Analytic Support and Expeditionary Response) and SHARP (Summer Hard Problem Program) tasks, and much more, including the Intellipedia database.

Defining strict rules for organizing interaction and exchanging information between all departments of the intelligence community, and also establishing responsibility for their failure, McConnell did not forget about the "carrot" for his subordinates. Along with a number of directives concerning the issues of increasing the effectiveness of information and analytical work, the preparation of new functional responsibilities of employees of subordinate departments, McConnell only three months after his appointment signed ICD document No. 655 on the proposed reward system. The new directive determined an updated procedure for awarding employees who distinguished themselves in service and made a significant contribution to the activities of the intelligence community and the national security of the country.

An interesting fact is that the list of new rewards and rewards accurately reflected all the current problems that American national intelligence faced. Thus, for the outstanding achievements that demonstrate, contribute to and primarily teach the culture of organizing the interaction of various agencies of the intelligence community and ensure the effective exchange of intelligence information, a special award was introduced for the Director of National Intelligence “For organizing interaction and cooperation”. For the introduction of innovative technologies and proposals for overcoming the newly emerging threats and challenges to national security, the annual Galileo Prize was established, and the heads of intelligence agencies could count on the Medal “For Reforming National Intelligence”, which is awarded for outstanding contributions to the fulfillment of the goals and objectives of the presidential decree “On the prevention of the terrorist threat and the reform of the intelligence community”, as well as the integration of the national intelligence agencies.

NEW STAGE

The next stage of the reform of American intelligence is also aimed at improving the efficiency and efficiency of information exchange between members of the intelligence community. In addition, the management expects a significant optimization of budget expenditures. According to experts, the activities carried out will allow for six years to reduce the costs associated with the purchase and operation of software and hardware by 20 – 25%.

Cloud technologies will be the basis for the formation of a new space created as part of an initiative called Intelligence Community Information Technology Enterprise (ICITE). The initiative itself was presented to the general public at the end of 2011, a few days after the director of national intelligence announced plans to sequester the intelligence community budget for more than $ 10 billion. And almost half of the savings saved are due to the optimization of IT budget items .

The leadership of the ambitious project was entrusted to the head of the informatization (and automation) service of the DPR apparatus El Tarasyuk. Al Tarasyuk began his service as a leading engineer on Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty. He held technical and management positions in the CIA, performed operational tasks abroad. Later he headed the information center, and from 2005 to 2010, he headed the information (and automation) service of the Central Intelligence Agency. In January, 2011 was awarded with the medal “For the Reform of National Intelligence” for outstanding achievements in leading the reform and integration of the intelligence community.

The idea underlying the development and implementation of distributed information technologies of cloud computing in intelligence activities has long become a stable trend for many federal agencies and US private business and led to a significant reduction in their labor costs. In addition, in cloud processing, there is an acceleration of work from both desktop workstations and mobile devices. At the same time, users no longer care about the operating system, infrastructure, and software with which they work directly. All of this is provided to them through a cloud service, available in the form of one or more deployment models: private cloud; community cloud; public cloud or hybrid cloud. The type of model is determined only by the requirements for the service and the needs of the user. Additional preferences are associated with lower operating costs as well as energy consumption costs; simplifying the process of expanding or creating new hardware and software systems; the constant availability of documents stored on the cloud service; unlimited amount of stored information; the ability to work with applications in any place where there is Internet.

Despite the long overdue need for planned changes, they will be painful. In one of the interviews, the project manager noted: “I know how much money was spent on informatization, virtualization, standardization, operation in one department, and I know that similar work is being carried out in other structures of the intelligence community. This is a huge amount. Just because the business will not give up on them. "

In practice, the planned changes include several initiatives related to the introduction of modern technologies, allowing in the future to simplify and speed up the procedures of information exchange, as well as drastically reduce associated costs. Among them are the following. Providing a thin client standard for the computers of most users of the intelligence community. Integration of cloud computing technologies and architectures that ensure the organization of interaction with other networks (clouds). Modernization of data transmission channels and optimization of existing software applications. Development of the concept and design of a consolidated client application and environment that implements the concept of the desktop to ensure the formation of a new architecture.


The work of the CIA will become more transparent for the entire US intelligence community thanks to cloud computing.


Specialists from the “big five” of the intelligence community (CIA, DIA, NUGR, NUVKR and UNB) participate in the work, which account for the bulk of the US intelligence budget. For example, the CIA and UNB are developing a closed (secure) cloud computing environment for the entire intelligence community. RUMO and NUGR implement a unified concept of the desktop for all departments. In March, 2013, the first 2000 users will be connected to the formed network, in a year the total number of which can reach 60 thousand.

The new project is not even about cloud computing per se. In essence, his goal is to unite the efforts of American intelligence agencies to create distributed capabilities, unified services and services. The project will provide access to the necessary databases and applications from any computer of the intelligence community. The very need to find the right computer or to install switches and hubs for organizing communication between multiple networks and networks will disappear. At the same time, no special secret technologies are planned to be created. The basis will be made up of ready-made hardware specially adapted to the needs of the special services.

Public policy

At present, a steady trend has emerged in the United States towards targeted informatization of the intelligence community, the Armed Forces, and indeed the country as a whole. And this is quite objective, since in the modern political, economic and technological environment, information technologies are considered as an innovative tool for increasing the capabilities and competitiveness of the state while saving money. That is why the introduction of cloud technologies can not be regarded only as an initiative of the leadership of American intelligence. Rather, it is a government policy aimed at unifying and optimizing the entire information infrastructure in the United States, as well as supporting the introduction of breakthrough technological solutions. So, 8 February 2011 was adopted by the "Federal strategy for the development of cloud technologies." Later, similar strategies were signed in a number of federal departments.

For example, the Cloud Computing Strategy of the US Department of Defense was released last July. This document reflects the Pentagon’s intentions to transform the approaches for which it buys, exploits and manages its information tools in order to improve the performance of the tasks, productivity and security of its information systems. Thus, in the US military, a large-scale transformation of the information structure has begun, providing for the formation of a single information space. According to the developers, it should provide new opportunities for the collection, processing, exchange of information, its security, regardless of the location of the user and hardware.

The United States Department of Defense, in the framework of further efforts to formulate the UNISC, took the initiative to connect not only its own departments, but also industry, as well as other government agencies. Already by 2016 – 2020 years, numerous isolated clouds of the US Department of Defense, intelligence community, military-industrial complex, government, and others should be integrated into the space being formed. According to representatives of the US DoD, for the successful implementation of the plans, the main thing is to understand that efforts to create a unified information and communication space are aimed not just at deploying networks, uniting and integrating them, but at increasing the effectiveness of the use of the Armed Forces in wars and armed conflicts of the future.

In addition to attempts to optimize the daily activities of the troops, to increase the effectiveness of their use in military conflicts, the Pentagon also counts on the economic effect of the inevitable optimization and reduction of all elements of the network infrastructure. Most importantly, American reformers do not plan to “break through the knee” of the existing systems that have their own traditions and peculiarities of functioning. They have prepared a softer and more innovative approach, and the same information technologies will become an assistant in this. For example, at the initial stage, the Pentagon plans to retain responsibility for the operation of all deployed and functioning in the interests of various services and network management, but under the overall control of the US Department of Defense Information Systems Agency. And only after the completion of the formation of a cloudy UISP, it will be possible to identify the shortcomings of the overall structure, as well as carry out optimization activities. For example, American military reformers expect to unify disparate postal systems deployed in each form of the Armed Forces, combined commands, and others. At the same time, the expected economic effect can be quite noticeable, since only the number of data processing centers in 10 years will be reduced from 1500 to 250 objects.

Thus, there is a tendency of widespread informatization of state structures and the private sector in the USA. At the same time, the main focus is on new cloud computing technologies. On the other hand, one should not forget about the lobby that has already taken place. His main goal was to increase profits for their information companies. This can be confirmed by the application hosted in the “Federal Strategy for the Development of Cloud Technologies”. It presents the data of the Administrative and Budgetary Administration under the President of the United States on the potential costs of federal agencies and departments for cloud computing. The amounts, if not astronomical, then very substantial. For example, the Ministry of Justice costs could amount to 200 million, the Ministry of Labor - 400 million, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration plans to spend 800 million, the State Department and the Ministry of Energy will spend $ 1 billion. , Ministry of Health and Social Services - 1,4 billion dollars, Ministry of Commerce - 1,8 billion dollars, Ministry of Transport - 2 billion dollars, Pentagon - 2,1 billion dollars, and expenses of the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Internal Security it will exceed US $ 2,4 billion..

How do we view the emerging trends of the information age, is it worth it to get involved in a new race of ubiquitous informatization and what can Russian science offer?

"Cloudless" future of Russia

The main direction of concentration of intellectual efforts in the information age has been determined, and in general it is connected with the issues of balanced globalization of fundamental actions with information (collection, storage, processing) in order to automatically process its growing flows. These issues are resolved through the functional integration of the computing resources of global networks through industrial distributed computing technologies.

The first step in the widespread use of distributed computing was made through the introduction of grid systems, industry standards of which were developed at the end of the 90 of the last century. Their promotion was accompanied by active advertising and significant financial flows. Nevertheless, by the beginning of the new century, the coverage of the grid systems was close to saturation, and interest in them declined.

Cloud technologies have become the next industrial step in the difficult development of a network of distributed computing. They are implemented in an advanced network architecture “client-server” with advanced computational interpretation, aimed at providing not only information, but also resource-intensive algorithmic services in wide ranges of applications. Undoubtedly, cloud technologies will significantly expand the scope of application of distributed information processing at the corporate level. Including contribute to the achievement of the goals of improving the work of US intelligence.

Nevertheless, there is a serious flaw in the clouds. Different clouds are built according to different technologies (there are already a lot of them, and many companies offer their hardware and system platforms). Therefore, there will no longer be a single space. In addition, it is not entirely clear how easy it will be to merge and summarize the functional services of different clouds. It seems that the system aspects of software and hardware integration can be less of a hassle than the integration of the existing narrow-profile functional spaces. The situation is similar to the current state of various DBMSs, huge amounts of data in which have already been driven, but combining these data is extremely difficult. With cloud technologies even more difficult.

It is necessary to integrate and integrate not only data, but also spaces of algorithmic services. And this is already an intracomputer combinatorics with its “curses of dimension”, and the larger the integration tasks, the more difficult it will be to solve them within the cloud technologies. Masking the reasons for heterogeneity behind the convenience of “thin clients”, which in the absence of alternatives cannot be abandoned, they, in fact, hide the heterogeneity centers in network clusters equipped with special multi-layer system services of high complexity.

To overcome the limited capabilities of cloud technologies, full-scale functional integration of the aggregate computing resources of global networks is necessary. To do this, first of all, it will be necessary to eliminate the root causes of continuous reproduction of the heterogeneity of the computer environment, and then ensure the formation of a freely scalable and seamlessly programmable universal algorithmic space (UAP). With the elimination of heterogeneity in this space, it will be possible to solve all the problems of distributed processing across the whole range of tasks and the entire set of computer networks, which, like almost any universal solution, will provide a dramatic expansion of coverage and reduce labor intensity. Moreover, the generation of the required set of clouds for specific classes of tasks in a single UAP will require a smaller amount of resources and several times more time, since it has eliminated the internal computer reasons for the reproduction of heterogeneity, which entails curses of dimensions.

Therefore, possible attempts to repeat foreign plans in an effort to achieve acceptable parities in the races of cloud integration at any cost are futile. For us, this is a strategically short-sighted and very expensive event, since for a full-scale implementation of UAP in the resources of existing computer networks in the country, a tenth part of finances planned for the removal of American clouds would suffice.

In a number of areas, Russian science and the military-industrial complex are already ready to propose solutions related to the development of a new element base and its architecture ensuring the formation of the UAP. At the same time, an experimental batch of a prototype of a domestic element base with a fundamentally new “control computer on chip” architecture supporting UAP can be implemented on available technologies for designing and manufacturing VLSI for two to three years at relatively low cost.

To make the right choice, we need to realize that the current technological wave, of which grid systems and cloud technologies are a part, has already exhausted itself. For the five-year cloud horizon of Americans with the most advanced technologies and big finances, this is a real product, which, of course, will have time to give effect. For us, in the absence of comparable resources, it, as usual, will turn into a 10–20-year period of very costly but ineffective measures. During this time, the clouds are guaranteed to leave the main stage, as happened with grids. An alternative in one is to start creating technological advancements ahead of the world level for the formation of a universal algorithmic space. The only way Russia can get a unique historical a chance - to overtake without catching up. Not at the expense of increasing the speed of driving on someone else's road, but due to the timely turn to your inconspicuous lane leading to the future.
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12 comments
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  1. fenix57
    +1
    14 February 2013 06: 54
    A large amount of article, and as a result:overtake by choosing your way.So come on, gentlemen scientists, please choose. And Russia will again become "ahead of the rest of the planet", as the USSR once did ... hi
    1. +1
      14 February 2013 08: 46
      I have no doubt about this, one historian well noticed two territorial periods for the Russian Empire inhaling and exhaling, when inhaling, it decreases in size when exhaling increases, with each exhalation it becomes more and more smile . I won’t be surprised if there is no Western Europe left with the next exhalation laughing...
  2. +2
    14 February 2013 06: 54
    Oh, this news does not please me in every way! request When will peaceful America be? Probably when it will not be!
  3. 0
    14 February 2013 07: 11
    In my opinion, this is very similar to Star Wars ... A beautifully drawn picture, the goal of which is to draw Russia into the arms race, but now in the field of information technology .. But the choice is made without taking into account the presence of good specialists from the enemy (us) ...
    1. 0
      14 February 2013 22: 15
      While we will consider the processes of informatization of the armed forces, society, and others, not as a tool to increase our capabilities, but as a false road leading to nowhere, nothing will change in our country.
  4. Kaa
    +1
    14 February 2013 07: 11
    Well, how can we not remember the old man Orwell "Big Brother is watching you." Only for some reason everyone believed that this was a fantastic pamphlet for the future of the USSR, but it turned out that the Americans themselves stepped on this rake. I would not like to live in such a society. One thing reassures - the intelligence services in all countries compete with each other for the budget and spheres of influence, maybe in the USA they will eat each other like spiders in a bank, with such a variety?
  5. 0
    14 February 2013 07: 17
    The mechanism is running. Soon we will all be digitized. Driving will become much easier. With objectionable dissenters to fight too.
  6. 0
    14 February 2013 07: 22
    Quote: fenix57
    A large volume of the article, and as a result: overtake, choosing your own path. So come on, gentlemen, scientists, please choose. And Russia will again become "ahead of the rest of the planet", as the USSR once did ...

    Let's go our own way. Sounds good, especially since the implementation of this idea, in the US version, costs such resources
  7. lechatormosis
    0
    14 February 2013 07: 22
    In the last sentence I agree with the author.
    There is no point in arranging races with the Americans; one has to go their own less costly but more efficient ways.
    1. +1
      14 February 2013 09: 43
      Quote: lehatormoz
      There is no point in arranging races with the Americans; one has to go their own less costly but more efficient ways.

      It was clean on paper, but forgot about the ravines
      If they are all digitized jasbonds, then what happened on September 11th?
  8. alkach555
    +1
    14 February 2013 08: 16
    I liked the expression-lane in the future. Well right, quicker
  9. 0
    14 February 2013 09: 21
    With the elimination of heterogeneity in this space, a general solution to the problems of distributed processing in the entire spectrum of tasks and the entire set of computer networks will become possible, which, like almost any universal solution, will dramatically expand the scope and reduce labor intensity
    i.e., in the language of native aspens, absolute control over everything.
  10. 0
    14 February 2013 13: 28
    US Secretary of State John Kerry can’t reach his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov to discuss ways to resolve the Syrian conflict and the DPRK’s nuclear issue. This was during a press briefing on Wednesday, said State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland.

    “It's funny that Sergey Lavrov seems to be busy every time or traveling when the US Secretary of State wants to make him an urgent call. The same thing happened with Hillary Clinton, ”said Nuland, adding that Kerry made several attempts to contact Lavrov, but to no avail. “We understand he travels around Africa. We hope he finds the time today, ”she concluded.
  11. 0
    14 February 2013 20: 47
    Please add the second author of the article - Zatuliveter Yuri Semenovich

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