Mark Drapeau is a Fellow at the Center for Technology and National Security Policy of the National Defense University in Washington. Lately, he has been doing quite a lot of thinking about the uses of Web 2.0 in government. Two posts recently at Mashable.com lay out his views.
The reality of our current co-evolution with threatening terrorist networks is that they are using Internet technologies quicker and better than we are in many cases. At a recent speech in Arlington, VA, the current Navy CIO Robert Carey said, “The Internet is Al Qaeda’s command and control center.” Like Alice, we need to catch up in the race, just to stay even; and run twice as fast to pull ahead.
And from part II:
Because modern governments now think about military missions for national security in a much broader context, opportunities to use social software can best be divided into three very broad – and diverse – arenas. They are: (1) government internal information sharing, (2) creating and nurturing relationships with non-governmental entities, and (3) empowering people, particularly those in post-disaster, post-war, or impoverished situations. Understanding the pros and cons of incorporating Web 2.0 tools into each of these circumstances is the goal of a research project I have started at the National Defense University called Social Software for Security, or S3.
Fascinating reading on the possibilities from a very smart guy.
Update: And part III: Blogging by faceless government bureaucracies vs. Twittering by an "empowered" individual.
