"One of the virtues of a wiki format is that there is a blurred line between authoring and dissemination," he added. "The second something is authored, someone else can edit it [while others can] comment upon those edits."

The agency also is escalating its use of Asynchronous JavaScript and XML (AJAX), a programming method that uses JavaScript within the client to build applications that are more interactive than pages built with HTML and don't need to refresh a Web page every time a user enters or receives new data.

DIA last year began a project to create a data access layer in its architecture using a service-oriented architecture to pull together human intelligence (data gathered by people) and publicly available data gathered from the Internet and other sources into a single environment for analysis, Shepherd added. Analysis of data in this new environment will be done in part by using Web 2.0 applications, such as "mashups," that collect RSS feeds, Google maps and data from the DIA network that users can access with a lightweight AJAX front end, he added.

"Web 2.0 mashup fans on the Internet would be very much at home in the burgeoning environment of top-secret mashups, which use in some cases Google Earth and in some cases other geospatial, temporal or other display characteristics and top-secret data," Shepherd said.

Although he did not provide additional details of how the agency is using mashups, Shepherd did note that the DIA is using JackBe Corp.'s AJAX tools as part of its work to build this new type of application. JackBe has said publicly that DIA is using its Overwatch application built with its NQ Suite of AJAX tools. Overwatch is made up of a personalized, desktop-like dashboard that can display intelligence data stores through a standard browser, JackBe officials have said.