Articles

How significant are biometrics for border safety? What does increased biometric accuracy mean for Customs Border Protection Officers? Gary Wheeler, FBI, Criminal Justice Information Services Division discusses the role of biometrics in determining the potential threats of individuals, and the benefits of new technological developments in the shift away from the Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System to the Next Generation Identification System. Read more

Anne Ward, Middle East Analyst examines the NTISR intelligence gathered in the Middle East and highlights what this has taught us about the complexity of intelligence in warfare. Read on to learn about SIGINT, the elimination of the Bin Laden threat, and why ‘Microclimates’ matter more now than ever… Read more

Social media represents a fundamental shift in the way people communicate. The instantaneous nature of a tweet or status update has significantly changed how people consume news – more often than not people do not look for the news, the news finds them. Read more

In this exclusive interview, James E. Shircliffe Jr. of the Counterintelligence Division for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, talks about how information sharing has undergone a dramatic shift since 9/11. At the same time, the increase in communication has created new challenges. Mr. Shircliffe speaks with insightful detail about the personality differences between operations personnel and analysts and the importance of keeping “slugs” off your team, saying in the end collaboration only works if the team is comprised of talented players. “If I have to choose between sitting in a windowless room [or] hosting big meetings that make people feel good but don’t result in any action that makes a decision-maker smarter or makes bad guys hurt,” he says, “I will work alone.” Read more

Cathy Lanier, Chief of Police of the Metropolitan Police Department for the District of Columbia, talks to IDGA about the limitations of current sharing protocols with the intelligence community, bringing law enforcement into the IC sharing loop, and how the IC can benefit from law enforcement intelligence efforts. Read more

While the nation’s more than 17,000 state and local law enforcement agencies could serve as an enormous resource against domestic terror threats, to date those resources have largely gone untapped, according to one of the country’s leading counter-terrorism officials in law enforcement. Read more

Last year IDGA suggested a possible top 5 Military Duty Stations and Tours of Duty. We sang the praises of bases in Key West, the Spanish Coast, Bavaria, Hawaii, and Naples, Italy. And did the responses pour in! How did we make our selections? Why those Stations? Why weren’t there any Army facilities on the list? So now it's your turn Read more

Although security concerns are ongoing, there is growing momentum across the intelligence community to create a shared architecture in order to pool its IT resources. Budgetary pressures, coupled with mounting concerns that a lack of information sharing could be jeopardizing operations and potentially threatening the country, is spurring the change. Read more

IDGA is proud to announce the winners of the Top Defense Blogs 2011. Late last year we surveyed our members on who they routinely looked to for the latest defense, military and government news within the US and around the world. IDGA would like to thank our members who spoke up and nominated their favourite bloggers View the winners here. Read more

IDGA speaks with with William Casey, Unit Chief for the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Biometrics Center of Excellence--the FBI's program for advancing the use of new and enhanced biometric capabilities. The BCOE works to advance new and enhanced biometric technologies, standards, and policies to improve operational capabilities. The BCOE is currently sponsoring applied research projects in the following biometric modality focus areas: fingerprints, deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), face, voice, and multimodal recognition. Read more

IDGA would like to wish all IDGA members, their family and friends a happy and safe holiday season. Particularly those men and women in uniform, and those far away from their loved ones. 'Peace on Earth, and Good Will to All' Read more