Post by Dave Homewood on Aug 29, 2010 13:51:46 GMT 12
Navy does R&D for Western military intelligence project
By MICHAEL FIELD - The Dominion Post
Last updated 05:00 14/08/2010
New Zealand's navy is playing a high-level research and development role in a project to enhance high-speed broadband internet access for Western militaries to share secret real time intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance information on any warship anywhere in the world.
The project, codenamed Trident Warrior is being led by the Pentagon and is costing New Zealand taxpayers about $25.7 million.
It operates under a secret security agreement known as Auscanzukus (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, United Kingdom and United States), which includes the Waihopai spy base.
One side-benefit of the New Zealand research for the system is that it will allow crews on US aircraft carriers to have better Facebook access while at sea. New Zealand's key position in the project has been revealed in an online briefing by Carl Conti, director of experimentation, US Fleet Force Command.
Captain Conti told a briefing of military bloggers that Trident Warrior was linked to the Auscanzukus alliance.
"I can tell you we've talked with some of the folks down in New Zealand," he said.
"A large part of their budget for research and development in the C4I [command, control, computing, communications and intelligence] world is inside of Trident Warrior. This is a good proving ground for them, and the nice part about having the international partnership with them is that we build systems."
Captain Conti said the challenge was to get information on and off ships more quickly. "You're on an aircraft carrier with 5000 folks and they all want to be on MySpace at the same time or look at their Facebook. That's a lot of people, and even with the biggest pipe that you've got out there, you've got to be able to decide what part of that pipe you are going to dedicate to do social networking."
The Defence Ministry said it could not respond immediately to an Official Information Act request for information on New Zealand's costs and benefits from its role in Trident.
In its latest annual report, a $25.7 million item covers "Defence Command and Control System (DC2S)" to enhance data and collaboration tools.
"The core of the DC2S is based on the US Global Command and Control System and is being procured through the US Government Foreign Military Sales system," the report says.
The scale of collaboration between New Zealand and the US contrasts with the official no-ship visits and the suspension of New Zealand membership of Anzus because of the anti nuclear legislation.
Last year it was revealed that New Zealand had plugged into the world's most secret intranet – a sophisticated alternative to the internet – allowing access to the Pentagon's battle plans at strategic and tactical level.
The Secret Internet Protocol Router Network, or Siprnet, allows New Zealand frigates and armoured vehicles access to material seen on generals' desks in Washington, London and Canberra.
Siprnet was one of the networks allegedly accessed by US Army intelligence private Bradley Manning, to leak thousands of pages of classified information on Afghanistan to Wikileaks.
www.stuff.co.nz/national/4024031/Navy-does-R-D-for-Western-military-intelligence-project
By MICHAEL FIELD - The Dominion Post
Last updated 05:00 14/08/2010
New Zealand's navy is playing a high-level research and development role in a project to enhance high-speed broadband internet access for Western militaries to share secret real time intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance information on any warship anywhere in the world.
The project, codenamed Trident Warrior is being led by the Pentagon and is costing New Zealand taxpayers about $25.7 million.
It operates under a secret security agreement known as Auscanzukus (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, United Kingdom and United States), which includes the Waihopai spy base.
One side-benefit of the New Zealand research for the system is that it will allow crews on US aircraft carriers to have better Facebook access while at sea. New Zealand's key position in the project has been revealed in an online briefing by Carl Conti, director of experimentation, US Fleet Force Command.
Captain Conti told a briefing of military bloggers that Trident Warrior was linked to the Auscanzukus alliance.
"I can tell you we've talked with some of the folks down in New Zealand," he said.
"A large part of their budget for research and development in the C4I [command, control, computing, communications and intelligence] world is inside of Trident Warrior. This is a good proving ground for them, and the nice part about having the international partnership with them is that we build systems."
Captain Conti said the challenge was to get information on and off ships more quickly. "You're on an aircraft carrier with 5000 folks and they all want to be on MySpace at the same time or look at their Facebook. That's a lot of people, and even with the biggest pipe that you've got out there, you've got to be able to decide what part of that pipe you are going to dedicate to do social networking."
The Defence Ministry said it could not respond immediately to an Official Information Act request for information on New Zealand's costs and benefits from its role in Trident.
In its latest annual report, a $25.7 million item covers "Defence Command and Control System (DC2S)" to enhance data and collaboration tools.
"The core of the DC2S is based on the US Global Command and Control System and is being procured through the US Government Foreign Military Sales system," the report says.
The scale of collaboration between New Zealand and the US contrasts with the official no-ship visits and the suspension of New Zealand membership of Anzus because of the anti nuclear legislation.
Last year it was revealed that New Zealand had plugged into the world's most secret intranet – a sophisticated alternative to the internet – allowing access to the Pentagon's battle plans at strategic and tactical level.
The Secret Internet Protocol Router Network, or Siprnet, allows New Zealand frigates and armoured vehicles access to material seen on generals' desks in Washington, London and Canberra.
Siprnet was one of the networks allegedly accessed by US Army intelligence private Bradley Manning, to leak thousands of pages of classified information on Afghanistan to Wikileaks.
www.stuff.co.nz/national/4024031/Navy-does-R-D-for-Western-military-intelligence-project