Intelligence community email network to shut down

Increased security concerns are forcing the shutdown of the intelligence community's uGov email domain, The Atlantic is reporting. The magazine reports that the decision was announced internally last week to hundreds of analysts who use the system. It sparked concerns that other experimental collaborative platforms, like the popular Intellipedia, would face the same fate.

This decision follows the shutdown of another analytic platform called "Bridge," which allows analysts with security clearances to collaborate with people outside the government who have expertise but no clearances. uGov was rolled out in 2005. It is an open-source server that allows analysts and intelligence collectors from across the 16 different agencies to collaborate with ease and security.

The popular site processes unclassified email for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) that runs the network. It allows employees to access less sensitive collaboration platforms from computers outside their offices. But that's about to change.

"In order to improve security and enhance collaboration, the decision was made to phase out the "ugov.gov" unclassified web-based email system currently in use by a limited number of Intelligence Community personnel," Wendy Morigi, the ODNI's spokesperson, told The Atlantic.

"This transition will be executed in an orderly manner that sustains functionality and minimizes the impact on individual users.  Access to Intel-link, Intellipedia, and similar services will not be affected.  The ODNI remains committed to investing in and providing high-quality enterprise services for the Intelligence Community," she added.

For more on the shutdown of uGov:
- see this article from The Atlantic

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