A top official with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said on Tuesday that the intelligence community was moving inexorably toward embracing online collaboration tools, known as Web 2.0 applications, which hold the promise of improving U.S. intelligence efforts.

'The last frontier used to be the acquisition of information,' said Michael Wertheimer, ODNI assistant deputy director for analysis. Now 'the last frontier is collaboration. We're not getting incremental gains [in intelligence] on the amount of information we collect. It is the degree we can link up people and collaborate.'

Before the Office of the Director of National Intelligence was created in 2004, the president's daily intelligence briefing was produced solely by the CIA. Now, it is a collaborative product of the 16 agencies that make up the intelligence community. State Department employees once sent vital information about foreign governments back to headquarters via cables and then later by e-mail, both of which were visible only within the agency. Now, those messages are published online so intelligence agencies also can view them, which greatly increases situational awareness, said Wertheimer, a vocal advocate for cross-agency communication and cooperation. He calls such steps toward greater collaboration 'big wins.' ....