Intelink is a group of secure intranets used by the

United States Intelligence Community United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two f ...

. The first Intelink network was established in 1994 to take advantage of

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

technologies (though not connected to the public Internet) and services to promote intelligence dissemination and business workflow. Since then it has become an essential capability for the US intelligence community and its partners to share information, collaborate across agencies, and conduct business. ''Intelink'' refers to the web environment on protected

top secret Classified information is material that a government body deems to be sensitive information that must be protected. Access is restricted by law or regulation to particular groups of people with the necessary security clearance and need to kn ...

, secret, and unclassified networks. One of the key features of Intelink is

Intellipedia Intellipedia is an online system for collaborative data sharing used by the United States Intelligence Community (IC). It was established as a pilot project in late 2005 and formally announced in April 2006. Intellipedia consists of three wi ...

, an online system for collaborative data sharing based on

MediaWiki MediaWiki is a free and open-source wiki software. It is used on Wikipedia and almost all other Wikimedia websites, including Wiktionary, Wikimedia Commons and Wikidata; these sites define a large part of the requirement set for MediaWi ...

. Intelink uses

WordPress WordPress (WP or WordPress.org) is a free and open-source content management system (CMS) written in hypertext preprocessor language and paired with a MySQL or MariaDB database with supported HTTPS. Features include a plugin architecture ...

as the basis of its blogging service. IntelinkU

Versions on different intranets

Intelink-U

Intelink-U (Intelink-SBU) is a sensitive but unclassified (SBU) variant of Intelink which was established for use by U.S. federal organizations and properly vetted state, tribal, and local officials so sensitive information and

open source intelligence Open-source intelligence (OSINT) is the collection and analysis of data gathered from open sources (covert and publicly available sources) to produce actionable intelligence. OSINT is primarily used in national security, law enforcement, and busi ...

could be shared amongst a secure community of interest. Intelink-U was formerly known as the

Open Source Information System The Open Source Information System (OSIS) is the former name of an American unclassified network serving the U.S. intelligence community with open source intelligence. Since mid-2006, the content of OSIS is now known as Intelink-U while the netwo ...

(OSIS). Intelink-U operates on the DNI-U network.Federation of American Scientists Intelligence Resource Program: Intelink
/ref>National Intelligence, a consumer's guide, 2009

Intelink-S

Intelink-S (Intelink-Secret or Intelink-SIPRNet) is the secret-level variant of Intelink which is primarily used by the U.S. Departments of Defense, State, and Justice. Intelink-S operates on

SIPRNet The Secure Internet Protocol Router Network (SIPRNet) is "a system of interconnected computer networks used by the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Department of State to transmit classified information (up to and including information cla ...

Intelink-TS

Intelink-TS (Intelink-SCI) is the Intelligence Community's Intelink which facilitates sharing intelligence products up to the

Top Secret Classified information is material that a government body deems to be sensitive information that must be protected. Access is restricted by law or regulation to particular groups of people with the necessary security clearance and need to kn ...

/ Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI) level. Intelink-TS operates on

JWICS The Joint Worldwide Intelligence Communication System (JWICS, ) is the United States Department of Defense's secure intranet system that houses top secret and sensitive compartmented information. JWICS superseded the earlier DSNET2 and DSNET3, th ...

Intelink-P

Intelink-P (Intelink-PolicyNet) is run by the

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

as CIA's sole-source link to the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...

and other high-level, intelligence consumers. Today, Intelink-P is more commonly referred to as CapNet.Intelligence in the Internet Era – Studies in Intelligence

Intelink-C

Intelink-C (Intelink-Commonwealth) links the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia intelligence communities at the TS/SCI level. Today, Intelink-C is more commonly referred to by its network name of STONEGHOST.

Books and novels

In 1999 Fredrick Thomas Martin wrote a book about Intelink, titled ''How U.S. Intelligence Built INTELINK, The World's Largest, Most Secure Network''. It claims to be an inside look at the U.S. intelligence community's worldwide, super-secure intranet, and the never-before-published story of Intelink.Home Page for Top Secret Intranet: ''How U.S. Intelligence Built INTELINK - The World's Largest, Most Secure Network''
/ref> In the novel ''Rogue Warrior: Task Force Blue'' by

Richard Marcinko Richard Marcinko (November 21, 1940 – December 25, 2021) was a U.S. Navy SEAL commander and Vietnam War veteran. He was the first commanding officer of SEAL Team Six. After retiring from the United States Navy, he became an author, radio talk ...

, the protagonist uses Intelink, during his mission countering domestic terrorism in the United States, and his assassination of a Ross Perot-like character, who is the architect of a domestic terror network. In the novel ''Threat Vector'' by

Tom Clancy Thomas Leo Clancy Jr. (April 12, 1947 – October 1, 2013) was an American novelist. He is best known for his technically detailed espionage and military-science storylines set during and after the Cold War. Seventeen of his novels have ...

, one of the characters found an exploit in the Microsoft's Remote Desktop Protocol that allowed him to penetrate the networks of a United States

defense contractor The arms industry, also known as the arms trade, is a global industry which manufactures and sells weapons and military technology. It consists of a commercial industry involved in the research and development, engineering, production, and se ...

and exploit that penetration to access Intelink-TS.

References

Intelink itself is also mentioned in several novels written by Andy Mcnab, in particular ''Crisis Four''.

External links

Intelink-U home page
Matthew S. Burton, Studies in Intelligence, September 2005
"The wiki and the blog: toward a complex adaptive intelligence community"
D. Calvin Andrus, September 2005.
"Wikis and blogs" presentation
by D. Calvin Andrus at the Knowledge Management Conference and Exhibition, April 21, 2006.
"Rants + raves: agent of change"
''Wired'', September 2006.

''Wired'', March 25, 2008 {{Authority control Classified information Intelligence analysis United States intelligence agencies Wide area networks