Lockheed Martin demonstrates multi-level security intelligence sharing at Empire Challenge Joint Forces exercise

Posted by Courtney E. Howard

FORT HUACHUCA, Ariz., 2 June 2011. Lockheed Martin’s multi-level security intelligence sharing technologies enabled members of the "Five Eyes" international consortium—which includes the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Australia, and New Zealand--to share intelligence of dissimilar classifications securely during the Empire Challenge Joint Forces exercise. Company officials also demonstrated the end-to-end processing, dissemination, and exploitation of non-traditional intelligence data using products built on the Defense Intelligence Information Enterprise framework.

"What we demonstrated at Empire Challenge was the art of the possible," explains Jim Quinn, vice president for C4ISR Systems with Lockheed Martin's IS&GS-Defense. "The demand for better, quicker intelligence sharing between our allies has never been more important than it is today. By leveraging our expertise in secure intelligence processing, we provided 'Five Eyes' nations access to real-time intelligence from classified and unclassified networks."

As it stands today, coalition access to intelligence from the global Distributed Common Ground System (DCGS) sites is limited to U.S. force collaborators, or requires utilization of high-level, cross-domain guard solutions, both of which inhibit seamless intelligence sharing between multinational forces.

Operating at multiple locations--including Langley Air Force Base, Va., and Fort Huachuca, Ariz.--in an environment replicating that of Afghanistan, the team demonstrated capabilities that managed vast amounts of high-definition video and intelligence data spanning multiple security domains using Lockheed Martin's Trusted Manager (TMAN) data guard. The team then employed soon-to-be-fielded intelligence sharing technology developed for the DCGS Integration Backbone (DIB), enabling U.S. and "Five Eyes" coalition partners to access intelligence data and video from classified and unclassified networks among multinational partners.

Lockheed Martin's development and employment of the latest generation of DIB technology within the DCGS Enterprise verifies data classification tags against user security credentials before allowing them access to data. This computing layer enacts authentication and authorization access controls to enable coalition partners to discover and access intelligence via the DIB as it became available using interoperability standards, says a representative. As a result, U.S. and coalition partners share the same intelligence as it becomes available and trusted credentials, and open architecture increases the availability of intelligence while reducing delivery time.

"The next release of the DIB version 3.0 will contain the Message Translation Service and will enable faster and more affordable exposure of intelligence data to the DIB federation at the enterprise level," Lt. Col. Thomas Tschuor, the U.S. Air Force DCGS Multi-Service Execution Team Office Director, explains.