Intelligence Community Metadata Registry

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Intelligence Community Metadata Registry
Mark Kelly IC Metadata WG (mark.kelly_at_dia.mil)
January 2003
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I dont know anything. I never did know
anything. But now I know that I dont know All on
a Christmas morning. - Scrooge
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Agenda

• US Intelligence Community
• Who are they?
• Intelink
• IC Metadata and XML Standards
• IC Metadata Registry
• Conclusions

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US Intelligence Community (IC)
The IC is a federation of 14 executive branch
agencies and organizations that work separately
and together to conduct intelligence activities
necessary for the conduct of foreign relations
and the protection of the national security of
the United States.

• Loose federation of organizations using web
  technology to enhance information exchange
• Information sharing requirements not well defined
• Need standards for production automation,
  management, and discovery
• View metadata and XML as key enabler to solving
  this problem

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Intelink

• Intelligence Community Intranets at Top Secret
  and Secret Classification Levels
• In 1994 declared the Strategic Direction for IC
  Dissemination
• Includes Intelligence Community and All Military
  Commands

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IC Metadata and XML Standards

• 1997 - Guidelines for Intelink Metadata (HTML)
• 2001 - Intelligence Community Metadata Working
  Group (ICMWG) formed to establish "standards" for
  IC information, especially in HTML and XML
• 2001- Issued revision of existing HTML Metadata
  Guidelines for Intelink
• 2002 - Issued XML DTDs for Core, Publications and
  Security Classification

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Need for IC Metadata Registry

• ICMWG recognized need for a Metadata Registry
• Metadata defined broadly
• Recognized need to
• Expose metadata to everyone in IC
• Harmonize data coming from many domains
• Compare and deconflict similar concepts and names

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Requirements Panel

• ICMWG formed Metadata Registry Requirements Panel
• Members included DIA, CIA, NSA, FBI, ONI, CMO,
  USEUCOM, DISA
• CoChair Phong Ngo, SAIC
• Entire Process 6 Weeks Long
• Challenges
• Diverse Community
• Short Time Frame
• New area for many on Panel
• Registry Requirements Panel Report

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Panel Report Overview

• Defined Registry Purpose as Facilitating
• Data exchange among collector , producer and
  consumer
• Interoperability of IC products and applications
• Increasingly more precise information discovery
• Living Document
• Important to emphasize given timetable

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Requirements

• 62 Requirements developed from 142 submited
• Mostly functional requirements, although a few
  implementation requirements included (e.g.,
  discouraging scripting and frames)
• Categories
• Content (what is registered)
• Interface (human and machine)
• Functions and Features (what happens in registry)
• Implementation Considerations (ensuring registry
  fits with IC plans)
• Business Rules (how registry gets used)
• Security (special needs for handling classified
  material)

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System Integration Issues

• Registry Must fit in Intelligence Community
  System for Information Sharing (ICSIS) framework
• Relationship between Thesaurus Management System
  and Registry
• Federation Issues
• Interaction with NIMA and other Registries

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IC Registry Plans

• Phase 1 Stand Up Version of DISA DoD Emporium
  and XML Registry
• Phase 2 Make this Registry Available Through
  Intelink
• Phase 3 Stand Up New Version of Registry based
  on Requirements Panel Report
• May be based on DISA software
• May be New Solution