US intelligence community to begin social networking site

By Mark O’Neill
Contributing Writer, [GAS]

They won’t be able to poke one another or post photos of their drunken one night stands.  Or install widgets that plays games or sends virtual Winnie The Poohs.  But the US Intelligence community’s “A-Space”, the ‘Facebook and YouTube for Spies’ which is about to begin, will be hopefully able to better co-ordinate the fight against terrorism by bringing case officers and analysts closer together to discuss raw material.

Open to 16 U.S. intelligence agencies, A-Space will have opinions and raw intelligence gathered from agents out in the field.    A-Space participants will then be able to sift through it, discuss it, and debate it together.   They can even collect “friends” like on any other social network.

Obviously you’ll need the proper security clearance to see certain information and to friend certain people.  The guy at the front desk isn’t going to be able to send a friend request to the director and offer his opinions on raw intel coming in from Iraq!

But if you can’t have a poke, how about a stab?  “Agent Smith has just stabbed you in the back!  Would you like to stab him back?”.   Plus, instead of sending someone a virtual teddy bear, how about sending them a virtual bomb instead?

Then again, we don’t want the spooks to have TOO much fun…..

CIA, FBI push ‘Facebook for spies’ – CNN