$2.7 Billion Later, the Army’s Intelligence-Sharing Computer System Still Doesn’t Work

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07-05-2011  •  Clay Dillow via PopSci.com 

The idea is simple enough: Create a cloud-based software tool that can combthrough the entire universe of military intelligence reports for a given region,group, or individual and come back with actionable intel that battlefieldcommanders can use on the ground, and do it in realtime. But a couple ofanalysts that have used the system, as well as documentation obtained by Politico, showthat the tool is hurting more than it is helping because it doesn’t workproperly. And that’s when it works at all.

The Distributed Common Ground System, or DCGS-A as it’s known in milspeak,was conceived as a means of parsing the reams of intelligence reports, dronedata, and other battlefield reportage and delivering to commanders theintelligence they need right when they need it--even during actual combatactivities.

So, for instance, ifa unit is tracking an insurgent the system would allow a commander to pull upall the recent intelligence reports generated about that individual, and plothis activities or known whereabouts on a map for simpler geographical tracking.The commander could also quickly draw connections between that subject andothers in the region, helping him to connect the dots and perhaps close in onthe subject through his or her associations.

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