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USTRANSCOM creates ground-breaking intelligence tool

SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. (USTCNS) --- A dangerous and volatile world may have just gotten a little more manageable, thanks to a new web-based program created by U.S. Transportation Command's Joint Intelligence Center (JICTRANS).

TIDE (Transportation Intelligence Digital Environment) lets the center's intelligence analysts create comprehensive transportation intelligence products directly on the internet. Using TIDE, analysts can get those products to decision-makers and planners much faster than most current methods allow, says Francine Billings, JICTRANS Chief of Systems Requirements.

"Change is the only constant."

TIDE, online since September, is a web-based program. It gives analysts near unlimited ability to combine text, graphic, photo, video and audio files -- including live feeds -- into comprehensive reports, briefings and other web-based intelligence products. The program automatically codes these files for the internet. That means after a unit-level review, users can easily and quickly post their products, Billings said. Online, the information is instantly available to mission planners.

Because TIDE is database driven, the posted information automatically updates each time the databases TIDE connects to are updated. That, says Air Force Col. James Marchio, JICTRANS commanding officer, is a huge advantage in a world where change, often violent, is the only constant.

Bomb threats, anti-American demonstrations, mines in ports and surface-to-air missile launches are not every-day events, but they do happen, said Marchio, who has dealt with all of these situations during his 20 years in the intelligence community. TIDE's timely production of intelligence products will go further in helping missions avoid those unpleasant surprises.

"Many stand to benefit from faster, more efficient transportation intelligence," he said. "That includes sailors making overseas port calls and aircrews flying supplies to our troops in unstable areas of the world.

"It would also include the Afghani men, women and children who escaped starvation last winter thanks to the millions of Humanitarian Daily Rations USTRANSCOM air-dropped in-country."

"Time is of the essence."

Billings, who led the effort to develop TIDE, explained that the nation's intelligence community has long sought faster, more in-depth methods for delivering information to leaders.

"Recent events, including September 11, have underscored the fact that time is of the essence in delivering information," she said. She contrasted the streamlined TIDE process to the cumbersome reporting methods of the 80s.

"You write a draft, send the manuscript up the chain for review, incorporate the changes, and then send the report to a graphics shop," she said. "From there it goes to the publisher, where it could be bottlenecked awhile, depending on its priority. Eventually the report is printed and distributed. The only problem," Billings pointed out, "is that three months may have elapsed since the conditions existed that you originally wrote about."

Although methods have improved since then, "before-TIDE" reporting methods still had bottlenecks and limitations. Analysts have had only a limited ability to incorporate other types of files into their text reports, and once completed, the reports still must be sent to another shop to be coded for the web. TIDE remedies all that, she said.

"They didn't wait."

For Marchio, one of the most remarkable facets of TIDE is the way it was conceived and created.

"TIDE is a tribute to the ingenuity of our folks," he said. "Ms. Billing's group saw a need and went out and filled it. They didn't wait for orders or money."

The group -- civilian Andy Thompson, Air Force Capt. Les Coles, Air Force Staff Sgt. Ian Mitchell, Karl Gee and Tech. Sgt. Kevin Kirtley, along with Billings, began by outlining what they wanted in program capabilities. They also asked the JICTRANS transportation analysts what they wanted.

Then the group looked in-house to see what tools already existed. "We didn't want to re-invent the wheel," Billings said.

Finally, they spent about $8,000 on new software -- a pittance, Billings pointed out, when compared to the hundreds of thousands, and even millions of dollars often spent on program development.

TIDE's web-based modules

The result, TIDE, consists of several connected web-based modules. TIDE's heart is a report generator known as RIP (Report Integrated Process). It's in this module that analysts build their products, integrating whatever files they need to paint the picture.

They can also call upon the Transportation Intelligence Network (TIN), to create custom maps and charts showing port and airfield information. These "geospatial" images can be "layered," Billings explained. A click of the mouse can, for example, reveal on the map all airfields that accommodate C-17 Globemasters. Another click could show C-5 Galaxy-capable fields, then one more click shows the airfields that can accept both.

PACE2, the newest edition of the Port and Airfield Collaborative Environment, can be used with or independently of TIDE. It provides constantly updated data about port and airfield infrastructure worldwide.

A fourth module, WADE (Workflow Application in a Digital Environment), currently under development, tracks and coordinates production on line. That means TIDE managers can generate progress reports at a moments notice, Billings said. WADE also notifies analysts by e-mail as due-dates for recurring reports draw near as well as assign new tasks.

Rising TIDE

TIDE is currently used only by the analysts at JICTRANS, the part of Transportation Command's Intelligence Directorate responsible for producing transportation intelligence output.

That could change, said Billings. Plans are in the works for analysts in the rest of the directorate to be introduced to TIDE by the new year. The ground-breaking nature of the program has also caught the attention of other DoD intelligence agencies. Tests with other Joint Intelligence Centers are being scheduled.

Though in use, TIDE is still in its infancy. Billings' crew is already at work on enhancements and additions.

Meanwhile, JICTRANS is collecting data on the young program, measuring its effectiveness and estimating its potential.

Though in the day-to-day operations that include participating in the global war on terrorism, Marchio said, TIDE has already proved itself a valuable tool.

Office of Public Affairs - transcom-pa@mail.mil
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