The flow of information from the political section of an embassy forms a large part of all "intelligence" gathered. This information is used by policy makers in Washington to formulate policy and then to judge its success. Embassies generally do not make policy, they carry it out. They provide information on which the leadership makes policy. The political section carries the message to the host country and judges the reaction and from this provides feedback to the decision making process. This flow of information is critical to national security. It provides a large percent of the information used in the policy formulation process. The question here is, given the power of the Internet, how do we use this capability to strengthen and modernize the function of a political officer?
The traditional political section, the core of an Embassy, is the least automated part of the mission. Great store is placed on personal relationships, acquired knowledge, and the ability to analyze events, and write clearly. With the exception of biographic files, the use or accumulation of data in a stored form is not seen as part of a political officer’s job function. Records are usually kept (in paper) of the office’s incoming and outgoing telegraphic traffic arranged by date (the chronological file) and cross-indexed by subject. These records are usually on a two year (or shorter) destruction cycle to prevent the accumulation of too much paper that could not be disposed of fast enough in an emergency. The accumulated record of all telegraphic traffic going back many years is kept on a computer in Washington. It is difficult, bordering on impossible, to query this database from overseas even though it is indexed by key words (tags). The chief means of communications is, as it has been for most of this century, by telephone and telegram. Classified e-mail is just starting to make an impact. Unclassified e-mail is not seen as a vehicle for discussing business that almost always could drift into classified issues.
Attached is a crude tool to assist political officers. It is a portal web site which will provide political officers access to a vast number of tightly focused, job related information sources. The information, from NGOs, the military, intelligence community, news agencies, etc. expands the material an officer can draw upon to craft his or her analysis and reporting. The data is continually updated. Because the web site is cached on a local server it uses very little bandwidth and should "refresh" on the screen rapidly. Over time, little used links will be dropped and contributions from the field will be added refining the product. The attached website is a template. Enough links are live to test the concept. Take a look and tell me what you think. Negative comments and suggestions for improvement are welcome.
As I said, it is a crude tool. With search "bots" and push technology it is possible to custom tailor each officer's desktop with fresh content delivered daily with updates of information specifically related to and useful for his responsibilities. With simple low cost CD-R technology is is possible to store (safely) many years worth of reporting at post on a small number of CDs which could be indexed for fast search and retrieval of information, ending the terrible loss of institutional memory that the Department now suffers with every turnover of personnel at post. With fatter data pipelines and suitable security it should be possible to search the main database online and in near real time.
This web site has been constructed without Java applets or Active X controls for increased loading speed and security. All effort is devoted to useable content, not "bells and whistles. Send comments to robertm@nova.org
State Department RIA NET users may find problems opening some pages because of restrictions on the RIA NET system. Please let me know if you run into this type of problem..