WASHINGTON- Using a new laptop and a satellite link, FBI agents can
find out within two minutes whether the fingerprint from a newly
captured suspect overseas matches a terrorist database in Virginia.
Intelligence officials are running documents in languages such as
Arabic through a new computer program called "English Now." It converts
the foreign characters into the Roman alphabet and makes words such as
Baghdad, President Bush or Osama bin Laden jump out to spies who can't
read Arabic.
The language software and the fingerprint-recognition system
are examples of new spy gear that the national intelligence director's
office bought last year. They may seem like tools that should have been
available years ago, but the government isn't noted for its ability to
quickly develop new technology.
A fledging center called IARPA is hoping to change that. The
Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity will try to develop
groundbreaking technology for the 16 spy agencies.
One potential tool sounds like it comes from an episode of Star
Trek: "cloaking" technology that can bend radar around an object to
make it appear it's not there. Others include power sources shrunk
using nanotechnology and quantum computers that can speed
code-breaking, says IARPA acting director Steve Nixon.
"The world has changed in dramatic ways with globalization of
technology," Nixon said in an interview. "These are the things that
might not get done otherwise."
But not everyone is convinced this is the right way to make new spy
tools. The House Intelligence Committee has questions about whether the
government truly needs it.
"Much of this research is already going on," said Rep. Heather
Wilson, R-N.M., the top Republican on the House Intelligence
Committee's panel on technical intelligence. She said IARPA raises
questions about the role of new National Intelligence Director Mike
McConnell, who was supposed to coordinate U.S. intelligence agencies
not get into their daily operations.
"Is it to fund these things and pull them into the DNI's office and
give itself its own turf and projects and pet rocks?" she asked.
There is even resistance within the CIA itself, according to
officials who spoke about the concerns privately. The agency gets money
that is supposed to go for spy tools that can be shared across the
government. CIA spokesman Paul Gimigliano denied any friction, saying
the agency welcomes ideas that promote collaboration on new technology.
In the last half-century, U.S. spy agencies have made technical
breakthroughs large and small. In the 1970s, the CIA shared its
lithium-iodine batteries with the medical field, which now uses them in
pacemakers. Its scientists developed microdot cameras that can produce
images so small that they can be hidden in the period of this sentence.
They also built a life-size robotic dragonfly that could have been used
for surveillance, if only it could have handled crosswinds.
If IARPA can clear some crucial hurdles, including convincing its
congressional skeptics, the new office will be modeled after a similar
agency that develops gee-whiz toys for the Pentagon.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency was created after the
Russians launched Sputnik in 1957, driving home the U.S. competitive
disadvantage in space. Since then, DARPA researchers have brought the
United States much-heralded advances including stealth technology,
global positioning systems and the Internet.
But it also brought controversy. The agency's Total Information
Awareness data-mining program was launched after the Sept. 11, 2001,
attacks to use technology to find terrorists; critics saw it as a step
toward Big Brother-style mass government surveillance. Congress
eliminated the program's funding at DARPA in 2003, but portions were
moved to secret accounts at other agencies.
The new intelligence organization will be significantly smaller than
DARPA, which has a $3 billion annual budget. It will be based at the
University of Maryland and staffed with 56 intelligence professionals
from the CIA and from McConnell's organization.
Rather than funding IARPA in the House intelligence budget bill
passed this month, lawmakers directed technology dollars to centers
developing tools that can be shared across government, including
offices within the CIA, National Security Agency and National
Geospatial-Intelligence Agency.
The measure included criticism of McConnell's office for failing to
provide details on how IARPA will work and raised questions about
whether it would harm existing research for spy tools.
Nixon says IARPA won't have labs and electron microscopes, but will
sponsor research at universities, national labs and other organizations.
IARPA is thinking broadly, he said. It won't limit itself to hard
sciences, but will also tackle social-science problems such as finding
tools for language research or to help analysts measure cultural habits
of another society. He also said the organization will work on privacy
protection. NSA and other agencies want to be able to make better use
of foreign intelligence information from overseas, which often contains
information on U.S. citizens.
Given the lack of oversight in intelligence agencies, 'this is an
area where the research community has to step gingerly,' said Marc
Rotenberg, executive director of the Washington-based Electronic
Privacy Information Center.
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Click photo to enlarge
This photo provided by the CIA shows a Micro
Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV)... (AP Photo/CIA)