Two new research programs undertaken by the office of the director of national intelligence, Mike McConnell, that were described in part in his latest report to Congress (Data Mining Report, Feb. 15), aim to create virtual environments that bring together analysts from different agencies (see graph below) The Proactive Intelligence (PAINT) program, for instance, represents targets (principally terrorist networks) in a collective and changing manner, using data and analysis supplied by different agencies. The A-SpaceX program, for its part, relies on direct collaboration between analysts in an interactive 3D environment.

In another sign of growing interest in the virtual world, the CIA’s venture capital fund, In-Q-Tel, invested last September in the California company Forterra Systems which already markets collaborative 3D platforms and simulation games of an intelligence and defense nature. Forterra, for instance, develops the Asymmetric Warfare-Virtual Training Technology platform for the U.S. Army (it simulates anti-terrorist and low intensity conflicts involving different armed services or several nations).

Forterra’s agreement with In-Q-Tel involves providing 3D conferencing and document sharing and a system that can be viewed simultaneously and securely by geographically dispersed participants.

In August, Michael Macedonia quit as head of the Disruptive Technology Office, the DNI organization that manages, among other things, research on virtual technology, to take over as head of Forterra’s national security department.