UNCLASSIFIED
UNCLASSIFIED INFORMATION
SHARING CAPABILITY (UISC)
Concept of Operations
Short Title: UISC CONOPS
OPR: Deputy Director, J-36
RELEASED BY: Director, J-3
DISTRIBUTION: Unlimited
RELEASED DATE: 15 November 2010
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UNCLASSIFIED INFORMATION SHARING CAPABILITY
CONCEPT OF OPERATIONS
1. Purpose. This document describes the operational concept, termed Unclassified Information
Sharing Capability (UISC). The UISC Concept of Operations (CONOPS) outlines the capability
designed to assist joint and coalition military organizations in their efforts to collaborate, plan
and coordinate operations, exchange information, and build situational awareness with both
traditional and nontraditional mission partners across various mission sets. These mission
partners include, as examples, US government agencies; foreign governments and their
militaries; international organizations (IOs); regional organizations (ROs); nongovernmental
organizations (NGOs); State, local and tribal authorities; and members of the public and private
sectors. Missions the UISC is intended to benefit include but are not limited to Homeland
Defense/Defense Support of Civil Authorities (HD/DSCA) and Stability, Security, Transition
and Reconstruction (SSTR) operations.
2. Applicability. This CONOPS is for use by any US government entity that has responsibility
for an area where the UISC is being implemented with mission partners. These entities include
DOD (Combatant Commanders, DOD agencies, Services and Task Forces); DOS; and State,
local and tribal authorities.
3. Summary of Changes. Suggested changes to this CONOPS will be submitted through the
Joint Staff for consolidation and presentation to the UISC Governance Board and operational
sponsor. Approved changes will be incorporated as Interim Changes (IC) until a complete
CONOPS revision is required as determined by Joint Staff J3.
MICHAEL J. CAREY
Brigadier General, USAF
Deputy Director for Command, Control and
Nuclear Operations, J-36
Enclosure
UISC CONOPS
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Table of Contents
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .......................................................................................................... 1
1.
OVERVIEW........................................................................................................................... 3
1.1
1.2
1.3
1.4
1.5
1.6
2.
PURPOSE .......................................................................................................................... 3
SCOPE .............................................................................................................................. 3
BACKGROUND .................................................................................................................. 3
OPERATIONAL PROBLEM.................................................................................................. 3
VISION ............................................................................................................................. 4
APPROACH ....................................................................................................................... 4
CAPABILITIES SUMMARY .............................................................................................. 5
2.1
2.2
2.3
OBJECTIVE CAPABILITIES ................................................................................................ 5
THRESHOLD CAPABILITIES............................................................................................... 5
JOINT CAPABILITY AREAS ............................................................................................... 6
3.
MISSION AREA ANALYSIS (MAA) ................................................................................. 7
4.
CONCEPT OF OPERATIONS............................................................................................ 9
4.1
CONOPS OVERVIEW ...................................................................................................... 9
4.2
OPERATIONAL VIEW (OV-1)............................................................................................ 9
4.3
STRATEGIC - OPERATIONAL – DAILY/ROUTINE ACTIVITY ............................................. 10
4.3.1 Strategic/Policy ......................................................................................................... 10
4.3.2 Operational/Mission.................................................................................................. 11
4.3.3 Daily/Routine Activity. ............................................................................................. 13
4.4
THREAT AND OPERATIONAL ENVIRONMENT .................................................................. 14
5.
RESPONSIBILITIES .......................................................................................................... 14
6.
CONCLUSION .................................................................................................................... 15
A. APPENDICES ........................................................................................................................ 16
A.1 REFERENCES ........................................................................................................................ 16
A.2 GLOSSARY ........................................................................................................................... 17
Acronyms.............................................................................................................................. 17
Definitions............................................................................................................................. 17
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Executive Summary
This Concept of Operations (CONOPS) outlines the Unclassified Information Sharing Capability
(UISC). This capability is designed to assist joint and coalition military organizations in their
efforts to collaborate, plan and coordinate operations, exchange information, and build
situational awareness with both traditional and nontraditional mission partners across various
mission sets. These mission partners include, but are not limited to, US government agencies;
foreign governments and their militaries; international organizations (IOs); regional
organizations (ROs); nongovernmental organizations (NGOs); State, local and tribal authorities;
and members of the public and private sectors.
In April 2009, the Department of Defense (DOD) Information Sharing Implementation Plan
tasked Joint Staff J-6 and OASD/NII to develop an enterprise approach that enables the
federation of existing combatant command, Service, and defense agency unclassified information
sharing systems in support of Homeland Defense/Defense Support of Civil Authorities
(HD/DSCA) and Stability, Security, Transition and Reconstruction (SSTR) operations. In order
to properly inform Fiscal Year 2012 Program Objective Memorandum development, the
Command and Control Capabilities Integration Board coordinated with Joint Staff J-3 to lead the
development of a CONOPS for unclassified information sharing.
Combatant commands, their subordinate joint force commanders and Service components
require unclassified capabilities to facilitate interaction and cooperation with non-DOD mission
partners in the performance of their missions. The challenge lies in achieving a relative unity of
effort across a diverse group of contributors while preserving institutional autonomy across
different organizational cultures, procedures, and languages. In order for combatant commands
to better work with and engage their extended partners, they require an interoperable
collaboration and information exchange capability.
UISC will enable both enduring and ad hoc multilateral exchanges of information through shared
communities of interest and issue-specific groups among and across organizations and
individuals. UISC will be a web-based, loosely-coupled, “non-dot-mil”, information sharing and
collaboration tool that may be accessed any time, from anywhere, by any authorized user with an
Internet connection, including web-enabled mobile, personal devices. UISC will provide an
affordable, scalable, sustainable, and interoperable suite of capabilities. Technical protocols and
standards will follow common US national, international, and industry standards and the
collaborative information environment (CIE) will be compatible with commonly used operating
systems and the client connections will be accessible through commonly used Web browsers.
UISC is envisioned primarily to help more effectively conduct Humanitarian Assistance and
Disaster Relief (HA/DR), HD/DSCA, SSTR, and Theater Security Cooperation (TSC) type
operations. The reality, however, is that UISC has potential use in any mission area where the
exchange of unclassified information is required for timely mission success.
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1. Overview
1.1
Purpose
This Concept of Operations (CONOPS) provides a basic description of the Unclassified
Information-Sharing Capability (UISC). This description includes the generalized capabilities of
the service as well as example use cases demonstrating how users will benefit from the
capability.
1.2
Scope
The scope of the UISC is focused on all combatant commands and their joint task force
and Service commands, Services, National Guard, US Government (USG) agencies and their
mission partners. This includes use of the UISC suite of capabilities by non-DOD users that are
sponsored by DOD components. These mission partners include, but are not limited to, US
government agencies; foreign governments and their militaries; international organizations (IOs);
regional organizations (ROs); nongovernmental organizations (NGOs); State, local and tribal
authorities; and members of the public and private sectors involved with the same community of
interest or issue. Activities of the UISC will be employed at the Strategic Theater, Operational,
and tactical levels with the spectrum of use focused primarily on non-combat operations. These
operations include Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HA/DR), Homeland
Defense/Defense Support of Civil Authorities (HD/DSCA), Stability, Security, Transition and
Reconstruction (SSTR), and Theater Security Cooperation (TSC).
1.3
Background
In order to perform a variety of DOD missions most effectively, there is a critical need for
the interaction and cooperation of US and foreign government agencies and militaries, IOs, ROs,
NGOs and the public and private sectors in numerous mission sets. In the current operational
environment, the conduct of mission operations requires that combatant commands engage a
dynamic set of extended partners, often individually, over the Internet. Responding to mission
challenges requires effective situational awareness, communication, coordination, and virtual
collaboration among the myriad of contributing participants. These organizations must identify
critical information requirements, where to obtain relevant information to answer these, as well
as when and how to share the information routinely to plan and execute operations for mission
success. The UISC is envisioned to serve as a key information sharing enabler, available for use
by USG Lead Federal Agencies (LFAs) to support enhanced unity of effort in planning and
execution of missions.
1.4
Operational Problem
Current military operations are distinguished by command and control capabilities
enhanced by rapid IT innovations, communications infrastructure improvements, and a
requirement for militaries to interact with new partners, many of which have never previously
supported military efforts. Building unity of effort across this diverse group of mission partners
poses a significant challenge in operations, particularly those involving non-combat missions.
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Part of this challenge arises in accommodating the institutional autonomy of new mission
partners who bring to the conduct of operations different organizational cultures, procedures,
languages and agendas. In order for coalition and interagency task forces to better work with
and engage their extended partners, mission participants require a capability which provides easy
and manageable access, interoperability with a large majority of Internet user tools, and services
that support the level of collaboration and information exchange necessary to enable time
sensitive decisions and wide dissemination of information. These mission participants require
access to a wide array of information, expertise and resources that enable integrated and
accessible planning, analysis, assessment, and operational capability to support national and
international objectives. In addition, behavioral changes introduced through the emergence and
growth of social networking sites (SNS) impact on how dispersed military and partnering
organizations use the Internet and communications technologies.
1.5
Vision
The UISC vision is to enable the effective sharing of unclassified information between
the DOD and its various mission partners. For its initial capability, the UISC will leverage,
exploit and apply recent innovations and advances found in various SNS on the World Wide
Web to meet and improve mission success and effectiveness among combatant commands and
their respective real and virtual communities. As further strategic, operational, and tactical
information exchange requirements are determined, additional applications and services will be
considered for adoption as part of the suite of UISC. The UISC will be a shared enterprise
service useable by all members of the DOD to facilitate unclassified information sharing with
mission partners that do not have or want access to DOD networks or web portals.
1.6
Approach
The UISC will use a combination of current technical solutions to this operational
problem vice seeking new technologies. The advent of UISC will reduce duplicative services
and fill information sharing capability gaps. The approach is to leverage a mature subset of
DOD technical and procedural solutions’ capability and elevate its usage to the enterprise level
by making that capability available to all potential users. In addition, the UISC will leverage
knowledge management (KM) initiatives that promote adoption of strategic operations, and
common tactics, techniques, and procedures that enable knowledge and information sharing.
Using this approach, we foresee significant cost savings to the enterprise as well as an expedited
roadmap towards Initial Operating Capability (IOC). This approach will also enable the
federation of existing combatant command, Service and Agency unclassified information sharing
capabilities with the enterprise. The intent is for the DOD UISC to be interoperable with other
USG unclassified information sharing initiatives, such as DHS’s Homeland Security Information
Network (HSIN) and other existing capabilities to be identified by mission partners.
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2. Capabilities Summary
2.1
Objective Capabilities
This CONOPS addresses the unclassified information sharing capabilities for the
aforementioned mission partners and the UISC implementation plan will ensure that the mission
partners are aware of the DOD process for requirements development, adjudication and
integration. As of the release of this CONOPS, the current requirements management process is
found in CJCSI 6285.01B dated 13 Sept 2010.
The desired capability is to enable combatant commands and their joint task force and
Service commands to share information and collaborate with any current and potential mission
partners wherever, whenever, and as often as necessary, to better achieve mission success using
real and virtual communities. Given the tools and opportunity, the combatant commands and
their communities will naturally create mutual value among them through a spectrum of
techniques and solutions available. The expanse of possible mission partners with whom the
DOD may share information is large. It includes non-DOD agencies of US Federal, State, local,
and tribal governments and nongovernmental organizations, first responders, and the private
sector, whether the United States is leading the operation or participating as a mission partner.
2.2
Threshold Capabilities
Combatant commands and their extended spectrum of mission partners, to include both
real and virtual community members, require an interoperable, web-based capability that
supports unclassified, multi-media information sharing and collaboration to better achieve their
mission success. The UISC is not envisioned to provide a purely military centric environment,
but to enable relevant exchange among many mission partners. This capability must support both
enduring and ad hoc communities. Use of the UISC by enduring communities enables
information sharing and collaboration for both on-going and anticipated mission sets such as
HA/DR, HD/DSCA and SSTR. In turn, these communities form the foundation for ad hoc
communities needed to respond to expected, but presently undefined, real-world responses.
The UISC solution will provide an affordable, scalable, sustainable, and interoperable
suite of capabilities that provides information sharing and collaboration among combatant
commands, their joint task force and Service commands, and their global partners, real and
virtual communities, broader private and public sector communities, and interested, relevant,
individuals, all performed without traditional boundaries. UISC will consist of providing access
and support to the collaborative suite of capabilities. As a part of the UISC concept, no hardware
is intended to be provided to end users. USG entities assisting in an event may elect to do so if
they deem it an operational necessity.
UISC will provide an unclassified, loosely-coupled, web-enabled software platform
delivering the capability for a disparate set of participants to connect, collaborate, plan and
coordinate; network socially and professionally; have situational awareness; and document the
activities of multiple communities of interest and practice. It is conceptually based on the
premise that the only technical commonality among the potential partners is a computer or other
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web-enabled device with access to the Internet (this includes desktops, laptops, notebook, PDAs,
cell phones and Smart phones).
The UISC will be a portal which is available via the Internet so as to provide access to
potential mission partners. As an initial capability, the UISC will leverage current Web 2.0
capabilities and concepts (e.g. services provided by Twitter and Facebook), which are based on
participants’ abilities to exploit emergent group-forming behaviors and collaborate with others
online. The UISC will allow mission partners to share data and information to and from a variety
of existing sources (e.g. an Unclassified Common Operational Picture (COP) or a combatant
command’s existing theater information sharing capability). Technical protocols and standards
will follow common US national, international, and industry standards to provide interoperability
with existing capabilities. The UISC collaborative environment will be compatible with
commonly used operating systems, and the client connections will be accessible through
commonly used Web browsers (e.g. Firefox and Internet Explorer). Considerations must be
addressed during development for disconnected, intermittent, and low bandwidth (DIL) users.
Users will be able to collaborate by employing a number of useful collaborative
capabilities. At a minimum, authorized users are expected to be able to read and contribute to
communities of interest they join. A full list of desired functional capabilities will be provided in
a separate requirements document that will specify the unclassified information sharing
capabilities required. Below is a small sampling of those collaborative capabilities:
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2.3
Texting
Blogging
Instant Messaging/Chat
Image and audio/video file hosting
Sharing files, links, and events (desktop and handheld devices)
Language translation
Synchronous collaboration
Wikis
Joint Capability Areas
All Tier 1 Joint Capability Areas will be potentially affected through the operational
utility of UISC.
Force Support
Battlespace Awareness
Force Application
Logistics
Command and Control
Net-Centric
Protection
Building Partnerships
Corporate Management and Support
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The UISC utilizes a net-centric suite of capabilities that will be employed to enable the
building of both ad hoc and enduring partnerships, groups, and virtual communities to more
effectively meet the mission needs, objectives, and priorities of the participating combatant
commands specifically including the Joint Capabilities above. Once formed, relationships
among individual members, groups, and communities will operate virtually on a free-form, freeflow, ad hoc basis, and will produce value in the process of participation. More partnerships,
more information availability, and easy access will combine to improve awareness of not only
the area of responsibility, but of an unlimited number of topical interests of the membership
population on the network.
3. Mission Area Analysis (MAA)
Mission Area Analyses will be variably unique for each individual or group (such as a
combatant command) utilizing the UISC. Although recent events have focused the UISC effort
on Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HA/DR) efforts, there are many other mission
areas or interesting topics that will evolve or become more/less relevant based on many
variables. Some additional, prominent mission and general interest topics include:
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Partnership building and enhancement
World Health issues
Environmental Concerns/Events
Political dynamics and instability
Support to civil authorities/law enforcement
Weather Events and Natural Disasters
Conflict resolution
Lines of Communication
Conflict deterrence/avoidance
WMD Proliferation
Illicit trafficking
Support to combat operations
Diplomatic support
Security (e.g., Olympics, World Cup Soccer, etc.)
Force Protection
Ethnic, cultural, and religious events
Exercise/Training/Rehearsal support
Geospatial visualization tools
Cyber Attack
U.S. Critical Infrastructure Attack
There are virtually unlimited missions or topics of interest that may evolve from a
capability such as the UISC. Groups and/or communities may form, grow, or wither depending
on the level of interest of the participants and the derived tangible and intangible value of the
information, the level of collaboration, and the amount of professional and social networking
provided by the community. From the perspective of a combatant command, every effort must
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be taken to participate in, and when appropriate, lead and form groups, communities, and
partnerships essential to performing its various missions. Proactive steps must be taken to
generate interest, build an optimum population and representation of participants, and create
mutual value among all mission partners. Other groups with UISC access should conduct
analysis on a frequent and ongoing basis for the purpose of recognizing opportunities to improve
the UISC and increase its value.
Mission Area Analysis for each participant in the UISC will be determined by answering
the question, ‘Did I achieve my mission more effectively through the capabilities provided by the
employment of the UISC?” In many cases, this determination will be made by assessing
intangible factors and indicators such as:
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Temporal availability of information
Perceived and real value of information exchanged
Accuracy and reliability of information
Increase shared awareness by all mission partners and decision makers at all
levels
Greater awareness of information enabling creativity and original solutions
Optimum representative participation in a group or community
Ability to lead a group or community to solve a problem or meet a challenge
Level of trust, reputation, and reliability among mission partners to collectively
achieve a common purpose
Optimum behavioral and utilization patterns of participants in the network
The optimum level of group membership guidelines that enhances, not constrains,
the value derived from the network.
Group membership cohesion and coherence
Self-awareness and responsiveness of participants to recognize and form a group
or community as needed
Level of knowledge and awareness to anticipate or foresee a new need or define a
new interest
Compelling needs of individuals and/or groups to connect, share, and participate
Unity of effort, mission coordination and response improved across groups or
communities
Perceived equity in the amount and value of information shared between members
of the group or community
Crowd sourcing
These representative intangibles directly affect and determine the tangible results through
a complex interdependency among them. For example, the timely delivery of an appropriate
solution of tangible goods and/or services to the place needed most to achieve the mission is
likely the result of the “right” individuals and/or groups sharing the “right” information at the
“right” time for the “right” reasons to support decision makers and to meet desired objectives.
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4. Concept of Operations
4.1
CONOPS Overview
The employment concept for UISC is to implement a SNS approach to enable
information sharing and collaboration with as broad a community as needed to support
combatant command mission operations. The UISC will provide tangible and intangible value to
its users by enabling multilateral exchanges and ad hoc multimedia communications channels
through shared virtual communities of interest and topic-specific groups among and across
organizations and individuals. UISC is a web-based, non-dot-mil information sharing and
collaboration capability that may be accessed any time, from anywhere, by any authorized user
with an Internet connection, including web-enabled mobile, personal devices. It utilizes a
community of communities and groups leveraging Web 2.0 social networking and collaborative
tools to create a web of relationships that generates both tangible and intangible value. The
technical specifications of how the UISC will be accessed, implemented and resourced will be
codified in the UISC implementation plan.
4.2
Operational View (OV-1)
Participants in the UISC environment could be any mission partner with a computer or
communication device and Internet access with a need to establish or be part of a virtual
community (Fig 1). As previously stated, users will gain access via their own hardware as the
UISC is not a system in the original context. The implementation and perpetuation of UISC’s
functionality lies in its ability to connect its capabilities across distributed individuals and groups
to ultimately receive and provide value through the Internet. UISC participants are afforded
significant control over how they utilize its functionality and what information they share with
other participants with the facilitation of an UISC group administrator.
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OV-1 Unclassified Information Sharing Capability (UISC)
This view depicts symbolic virtual boundaries that define communities and environments in cyberspace.
The entire background represents cyberspace, with the Internet shown as the largest bounded virtual
environment. The other shapes represent environments (circular) and communities (elliptical or
rectangular). The geographic/physical location of members is not relevant if connected to the Internet.
Environments – portal defined virtual space with integrated services – circular boundary.
 Community, Organizational or Functional – rectangular.
 Community of Practice (COP) or Cross Functional, non-white field - elliptical.
 Community of Interest (COI), white field – elliptical.
Persistent Virtual Workspace (PVW) – portal provisioned virtual place inside an environment that is defined
by a boundary; and is commonly the collaboration site of a community.
Boundary – defines community access, and presence of its PVW in their environment.
 Black = Closed community, access only by invitation – PVW presence for members only.
 White = Controlled community, access by request, PVW presence for some or all non- members.
 No boundary = Open community, everyone has access, PVW presence for all.
Figure 1: UISC Operational View - 1 (OV-1)
4.3
4.3.1
Strategic - Operational – Daily/Routine Activity
Strategic/Policy
International issues and challenges are complex and the solutions are certainly dependent
in large measure upon the exchange of timely, accurate information among the optimum set of
participants. The same may be said of domestic military operations in support of civil
authorities. Though there might be a great variance in objectives and goals, the closest possible
cooperation and collaboration should be utilized in planning for, implementing, and evaluating
challenges to international relations on a continuing basis.
This rationale applies not only to information sharing but also to the adoption of common
processes, methods, tools and technologies for peace-building, stabilization and reconstruction or
humanitarian assistance/disaster relief efforts and other combatant command missions. Presently,
there is a growing need for improved collaboration on new approaches and tools to improve on
these efforts and remove impediments.
Among the many reasons for closely collaborating are optimizing contributor
participation, unification of efforts, more opportunities for partnering, cost and risk reduction by
eliminating physical meetings, and establishing trust among participants.
Interested agencies of the US Government (USG), in coordination with their mission
partners, seek to develop and implement self-sustaining solutions for international challenges and
to develop a loosely-coupled, scalable, information sharing capability, for use by all partners.
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Vignette: The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA)
posts publicly releasable information at its Relief Web site. However, this information is static,
posted as press releases. For purposes of coordinating response to an evolving humanitarian
crisis, OCHA created the Virtual On-Site Operations Coordination Centre (OSOCC). This site
allows OCHA to collaborate with first responders to enable efficient and effective response to an
emerging crisis as well as providing a collaborative information environment in which potential
partners can discuss capabilities, share lessons learned and standard operating procedures and
identify communities of interest. A similar capability in which the communities of interest can be
created and facilitated by the Department of Defense would assist in allowing the USG,
including the DOD, to identify mission partners and share information appropriate to specific
missions and responses in a more controlled environment without having to provide partners
access to the NIPRNET.
4.3.2
Operational/Mission
At an operational or mission level, the direct benefits derived from a UISC are a more
effective and efficient execution of all combatant command missions but especially including
DSCA, SSTR, peace-building or HA/DR efforts. The goal is to partner with other USG
Agencies, IOs, ROs, NGOs, and the public and private sectors in efforts designed to provide
essential needs and services and information in all available venues.
This goal is achieved with the opportunity for increased collaboration enabled by the
UISC’s information sharing component and the content created within a group or community.
This collaboration potentially results in a richer set of contextual information or comprehensive
knowledge-base from which to derive more facts; fewer, but better assumptions for planning; a
more comprehensive understanding of the crisis environment; and ultimately optimal decisionmaking.
Vignette: A massive earthquake hits the densely populated island nation of Termina. The
Geographic combatant commander is providing immediate assistance until the US Department
of State and US AID arrive on scene and take charge of relief efforts as the Lead Federal
Agency. A Combined Joint Task Force (CJTF) has been assigned the task of responding and
providing immediate aid. To facilitate communications between the military and the various
actors planning and conducting the relief effort, the Commander has directed that the operation
occur at the non-classified level. Furthermore, the Commander directs the establishment of a
“Termina Earthquake HA/DR” Community of Interest (COI) on UISC. The Commander
announces that relief efforts will be coordinated from within this COI and disseminates this
information to subordinate commands as well as to IOs, NGOs, and the local population.
Responders access this HA/DR COI by using a standard computer with internet access, a
cellular/smart phone, or a portable computer with satellite/cellular capability. Groups and
individuals in need of assistance may also use the COI to make their needs known using any of
the aforementioned methods that are available. Upon joining the HA/DR COI, individuals can
share information pertaining to the relief effort with other members of the community. COI
members will both ask and answer questions while collaborating with new mission partners. An
NGO seeking to provide bottled water can determine where that bottled water is needed. This
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NGO can then arrange for transportation of said bottled water from point A to point B by
obtaining contact information for the logistics hub from within the COI. If this NGO also desires
to see who else is providing bottled water, they can seek an answer from other COI members to
prevent duplicative relief efforts. There may also be an additional “man-in-the-loop” during the
HA/DR response to enable better information sharing – both within the COI, and between
disparate organizations and coordination sites. A “Knowledge Manager” or “Information
Exchange Broker” will assist the COI and its members in sharing the vast amount of information
present within a HA/DR environment.
These initial benefits carry over from planning to implementation and ultimately
evaluation as enduring virtual communities are established and trust factors are strengthened.
These communities are most effective if they already have relationships established.
There are no temporal limitations on the use of UISC. It could be equally useful in initial
crisis assessment, planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation – any situation that
requires establishing and sustaining groups with a particular purpose in mind.
Each UISC group has its own characteristics based on the original establishing purpose of
the group owner conveyed through a group administrator. Some groups may be established with
a purpose of “broadcasting” information with little to no expectation of routine collaboration
(e.g. web portal). Others may seek to engage the group in solving problems and may function
more as a “bulletin board” or “forum” with a Question & Answer feel where experts can help
novices with issues or problems.
Vignette: In extended operations, mission partners often provide people to the Combatant
Commander’s Joint Task Force (JTF) staff to aid in operational planning. These mission
partners interact with their parent organizations to coordinate and inform on the overall
mission. Some mission partners are prohibited from direct association with potential
combatants to avoid the perception that they are gathering intelligence and may not wish to
physically interact with government or military organizations but still see the value and
efficiency in collaborating with these organizations. Most partners are interested in the
military’s situation reporting. Some mission partners deploy with their own communications
infrastructure or use the Internet to help their need to communicate. An UISC environment
allows all mission partners to communicate using the lowest common denominator, the Internet.
There also exists an opportunity for the UISC to be applied to the HD/DSCA missionspace.
Vignette: The National Guard uses the Joint Information Exchange Environment (JIEE) to
coordinate requests for information and assistance (RFIs / RFAs) and share mission information
internally and with mission partners. Each State and Territory Joint Forces Headquarters
(JFHQ) have established operational groups on JIEE to share unclassified information and
process Requests for Assistance with other States and with the National Guard Bureau. In
addition, NORAD-NORTHCOM (N-NC) and DHS/FEMA have established groups on JIEE to
enable their situational awareness of National Guard operations. A JIEE-like capability as part
of the UISC suite of capabilities would meet capability gaps identified in JROCM 096-10 and in
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GAO-10-386, which recommends that DOD establish an enterprise service for managing civilian
requests for assistance. This would improve civil authorities’ situational awareness of DOD’s
efforts to identify capabilities to support civil authorities, and improve military and civilian unity
of effort through enhanced mission coordination and sourcing.
4.3.3
Daily/Routine Activity.
At the tactical level, UISC will enable more timely and comprehensive information
sharing by providing readily accessible, unclassified information sharing with the ability to both
read and share information in relevant mission communities. UISC standardized decision
support tools will enable users’ collaboration. Daily activity will consist of participation in
persistent communities of interest and practice designed to foster improved collaboration and
information sharing during non-crisis periods. In this manner, relationships and groups formed
pre-crisis will be already established and populated for use during a crisis response activity.
Weighing whether or not to join an unclassified information sharing environment
operating outside of governmental or military domains is usually a cost vs. benefit risk decision.
There is always tension between the risk involved in sharing unique content compared with the
potential reward of similar unique, and previously undisclosed content, being made available by
other users. Some of these considerations could be operational security or competitive advantage
oriented.
To mitigate potential trust issues and maximize partner participation, the UISC will
operate on a dot-org or dot-net domain, instead of a dot-mil or dot-gov domain.
Careful consideration should be given by individual users and group owners as to how
content is shared using the basic collaborative features of the UISC. Upon administrator
validation, group owners will be able to host a group with the capability to control/limit access to
their group.
Data and information made available as content is at the discretion of every entity and
organization. However, once it is shared, only access controls limit viewing and use. These
access control measures and the procedures for their implementation will be codified in the UISC
implementation plan and the sponsoring agency’s current TTPs.
The UISC will not circumvent organizational requirements to properly approve release of
internal information or data. Any group’s improper release and/or “spillage” of data will be
mitigated by sponsoring agencies using current policies and procedures developed by the UISC’s
Designated Accreditation Authority (DAA).
Like any web-based capability, the performance of the UISC will be impacted by
network performance and bandwidth constraints. The basic UISC will function in austere and
constrained network environments by instituting low bandwidth procedures employing text chat
or other less demanding tools. This will enable handheld cellular or satellite terminals to
exchange information in the UIS environment through wireless Internet Protocol technologies.
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Vignette: The early stages of a crisis response require the gathering of assessment information
to be provided to planners and responders about the current situation. All mature responding
organizations have developed some standard reporting format which allows forward deployed
personnel to quickly and easily input data for consumption by planners and staff who will
coordinate the response. By creating an UISC we can enable the sharing of the data elements
from these various reports. Status can be more easily shared across mission partners, provided
into a format they are accustomed to viewing.
4.4
Threat and Operational Environment
The UISC is not directed at any specific threat or operational environment, but rather all
possible threats, in all possible operational environments relevant to the participating combatant
commands and their respective real and virtual communities. The strength and ability of the
UISC to address any and all challenges will be drawn from the mission-based relationships,
groups, and communities formed through it. Based on the assumption that there is some level of
Internet availability, access, and bandwidth, implementation activities must address use in a DIL
environment.
The UISC will be subject to both natural and man-made threats. Natural threats include
damage by fire and water, power failure, and natural disasters such as storms, floods, and
earthquakes. Man-made threats are from those who would target the UISC for espionage,
criminal activity, unlawful use, denial of service, malicious harm (including virus attack),
destruction or corruption of data. Leaders (e.g. commanders, organization/agency heads) must
assess and accept the information assurance and operational risk associated with the usage of the
UISC. Information may be compromised or unavailable due to these threats. Leaders must
make a conscious effort to balance the value of sharing information with the risks of the potential
exposure of that information. Guidance provided to DOD users should be specific enough for
users to comfortably make an informed decision about sharing information with mission partners
and its impact on mission accomplishment if revealed to an adversary. Applying the OPSEC
process (reference d.) can support these decisions.
5. Responsibilities
Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (OASD) Networks and Information Integration
(NII)/Department of Defense Chief Information Office (DOD/CIO)- OASD (NII)/DOD CIO, in
cooperation with the Joint Staff, will identify a governance board to oversee the implementation
and sustainment of this Unclassified Information Sharing Capability. The intent is to use a
vetted structure that already exists in the information sharing space. Absent of that, these
organizations will establish an Enterprise Oversight Board with that same mission. This board
shall evaluate the UISC at least annually to review progress, approve future plans and advocate
for funding. In addition, it will solicit an organization to act as the operational sponsor for the
UISC. It will also coordinate interoperability between the UISC and other peer USG
capabilities.
Joint Staff – The Joint Staff shall participate with OASD (NII)/DOD CIO and the operational
sponsor as members of the governance structure to provide oversight of the operational
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requirements process and support the integration of the Knowledge Management functionality
with the technical capability provided by the UISC.
Combatant commands/Services/Agencies, National Guard and other USG organizations–
Develop guidance, SOPs and TTPs which support decisions which will need to be made
regarding what information can be shared with which mission partners. These procedures should
provide OPSEC considerations as explicitly and in as much detail as possible to allow for the
timely exchange of information which is critical to support the mission.
Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) – Host the UISC as a service available at the
enterprise level and provide technical specifications for mission partners to interoperate/federate
with the UISC.
6. Conclusion
This CONOPS describes the Unclassified Information Sharing Capability, designed to
assist joint and coalition military organizations in their efforts to collaborate, plan and coordinate
operations, exchange information, and build situational awareness with both traditional and
nontraditional mission partners. The CONOPS is not meant to answer all questions associated
with the implementation of the UISC. Rather, it is an attempt to explain the desired need and
usage of the UISC.
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A. Appendices
A.1 References
a. “Department of Defense Information Sharing Implementation Plan”, OASD/NII/CIO, Apr
2009
b. DODI 8220.02, “Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Capabilities for Support
of Stabilization and Reconstruction, Disaster Relief, and Humanitarian and Civic Assistance
Operations”, April 30, 2009
c. DODI 3000.05, “Stability Operations”, September 16, 2009
d. DOD Directive 5205.2, “DOD Operations Security Program,” March 6, 2006
e. JP 3-08, “Interagency, Intergovernmental Organization, and Nongovernmental Organization
Coordination During Joint Operations”, Vol I, 17 March 2006
f. Deputy Secretary of Defense Directive-Type Memorandum 09-026, “Responsible and
Effective Use of Internet-based Capabilities”, February 25, 2010
g. Joint Technology Assessment Activity, "Transnational Information Sharing Cooperation Joint
Capability Technology Demonstration Integrated Assessment Plan, Revision 2", Oct 2009
h. All Partners Access Network (APAN) Concept of the Operations (CONOPS).
i. National Incident Management System (NIMS)
j. DODD 3025.1 Military Support to Civil Authorities (MCSA)
k. JTF-GNO CTO 10-008- Responsible and Effective Use of Internet Capabilities
l. MNMP C2 Information Sharing Capability Definition Package (CDP), October 2010
m. CJCSI 6285.01B, “Multinational Information Sharing (MNIS) Operational Systems
Requirement Management Process”, 11 September 2010
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A.2 Glossary
Acronyms
COI
CONOPS
DIL
DISA
DSCA
DOD
DODD
HADR
HN
IGO
JCA
JTF
NGB
NGO
NII
OASD
OSD
OPSEC
PDA
SNS
SOP
SSTR
TSC
TTP
UISC
USG
Community of Interest
concept of operations
disconnected, intermittent, and low bandwidth
Defense Information Systems Agency
Defense Support Civil Authorities
Department of Defense
DOD Directive
Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief
host nation
intergovernmental organization
Joint Capability Area
joint task force
National Guard Bureau
nongovernment organization
Networks and Information Integration
Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense
Office of the Secretary of Defense
Operational Security
personal digital assistant
social networking services
standard operating procedures
Stability, Security, Transition and Reconstruction
theater security cooperation
Tactics, techniques, and procedures
unclassified information sharing capability
US Government
Definitions
a. Collaboration 1. a. The deliberate effort of working together, applied to any interaction
between individuals and organizations with shared interests or similar goals; b. the
communication and coordination actions within and among commands and organizations that
support planning and conducting military operations. 2. See also: Virtual Collaboration. [Below
included in a separate comment.]
b. Collaborative Information Environment (CIE) – The virtual aggregation of people and
organizations, infrastructure, and policy and procedures to create and share the data, information,
and knowledge needed to plan, execute, and assess operations and to enable a commander to
make decisions better and faster than the adversary
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c. Community of Interest (COI) (see Virtual Community)
d. Federation – The process of associating separated organizational servers into one operational
domain.
e. Group Administrator – Technical facilitator who enables through basic access control the
ability of individuals to interact through specific media, potentially crossing many boundaries
(geographical, national, political, economic, social, financial, and linguistic, etc.) in order to
pursue mutual interests or goals.
f. Group Owner – Administrative lead of a group of individuals who interact through specific
media, potentially crossing many boundaries (geographical, national, political, economic, social,
financial, and linguistic, etc.) in order to pursue mutual interests or goals.
g. Information Environment – The aggregate of individuals, organizations, and systems that
collect, process disseminate, or act on information.
h. Information sharing- Making information available to participants (people, processes, or
systems). Information sharing includes cultural, managerial, and technical behaviors by which
one participant leverages information held or created by another participant.
i. Mission Partner- Federal, State, local, tribal, coalition partners, foreign governments and
security forces, international organizations, nongovernmental organizations, and the public and
private sectors.
j. Operations Security (OPSEC). A process of identifying critical information and subsequently
analyzing friendly actions attendant to military operations and other activities including:
(1) Identifying those actions that can be observed by adversary intelligence systems.
(2) Determining indicators that hostile adversary intelligence systems might obtain that could
be interpreted or pieced together to derive critical intelligence information in time to be useful to
adversaries.
(3) Selecting and executing measures that eliminate or reduce to an acceptable level the
vulnerabilities of friendly actions to adversary exploitation.
k. Portal is a collaborative tool which provides web-based access to a variety of information and
other tools.
l. Social Network Sites (SNSs) such as MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. have attracted
millions of users, many of whom have integrated these sites into their daily practices. There are
thousands of SNSs, with various capabilities and attributes, supporting a wide range of interests
and practices. While their key technological features are fairly consistent, the cultures that
emerge around SNSs are varied. Most sites support the maintenance of pre-existing social
networks, but others help strangers connect based on shared interests, views, activities, goals and
objectives.
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m. Sponsoring Agency is the USG entity that has responsibility for an area where the UISC is
being implemented. This organization may provide the group administrator and/or technical
support for UISC users/groups.
n. UISC (Unclassified Information Sharing Capability) is a "community of
communities" capability that combines the benefits of unstructured collaboration (wikis, blogs,
forums) and structured collaboration (file sharing, calendar) with the personalization of social
networking to facilitate unclassified information sharing with multinational partners,
nongovernmental organizations, and among various US Federal and State agencies.
o. A Value Network is any web of relationships that generates both tangible and intangible
value through complex dynamic exchanges between two or more individuals, groups or
organizations. Any of these engaged in both tangible and intangible exchanges can be viewed as
a value network, whether private industry, government or public sector. The nodes in a value
network may represent people (or roles), groups or organizations. The nodes are connected by
interactions that represent tangible and intangible deliverables. Intangible deliverables may take
forms such as; information, knowledge, or awareness and tangibles may be in forms such as;
financial value, goods, or services.
p. Virtual collaboration - The use of communications and computer technologies to enable
dispersed individuals and organizations to interactively work together on similar goals or shared
interests. This capability is enabled within a collaborative information environment by the use of
high-speed telecommunications networks and a common suite of enterprise multimedia planning,
conferencing, assessment, and portal tools..
q. A Virtual Community is a social network of individuals who interact through specific media,
potentially crossing many boundaries (geographical, national, political, economic, social,
financial, and linguistic, etc.) in order to pursue mutual interests or goals. One of the most
pervasive types of virtual community includes social networking sites, which consist of various
online communities. Virtual communities are used for a variety of social and professional
groups.
r. Web 2.0- Concept based on participants’ abilities to exploit emergent group-forming behaviors
and collaborate with others online in a Web-scalable environment. This concept includes the use
of asynchronous collaboration capabilities and Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds.
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