Australian Defence

Corporate Information Program

Defence and Government on the Web

Tom Worthington

Special Adviser Defence Internet/Intranet Policy

Department of Defence

"Slides" for Optimising Open Source Information, Canberra, 7-8 October 1998

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These are "slides", intended for display to an audience with an 18 point font on a 640 x 480 video display (or equivalent). Use the "<-Previous" and "Next->" links between slides. "" links are to the corresponding section of the accompanying written presentation.

This document is version 1.0 of 30 September 1998. See the accompanying written presentation in web or word processing format for further details.

Comments and corrections would be welcome, to:

Tom Worthington
Special Adviser Defence Internet/Intranet Policy,
Department of Defence
NCC-B12-05, Canberra ACT 2600, Australia
Email: tom.worthington@cbr.defence.gov.au

• Introduction
• Defence Home Page
• Web Guidelines
• More restrictive procedures are being put in place
• Press Releases On-line
• First Federal Budget On-line
• The Web for Exercise Kangaroo 95
• Use of Internet Technology for C3I
• Conclusion
• For more Information

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Defence Mission: To Promote the Security of Australia, and to Protect its People and its Interests

• Brief demo - see written paper for extensive references
• Brigadier Swan (my boss) detailed ADF IT issues at SEARCC'98 in July
• One example is use of the Internet, the Web and intranets:
• Challenge for security in a military environment
• Greatly enhanced facilities
• Can be used for combined operations between nations
• Creates some more complex issues
• Needs experience and practice.

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• Launched on 2 March 1995 (authorised by Brigadier Horne, DGIMCE)
• Part of a Commonwealth Internet Reference Group initiative
• Using an unusual proactive process
• Provides unclassified, non-sensitive information to the general public:
• structure, military and civilian recruitment, industry policy, IT policy, media releases.
• Pages for the Minister for Defence and the Minister for Defence Industry, Science and Personnel

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• Defence Home Page uses short, common sense guidelines
• Based on the US DoD guidelines
• Being revised with the latest US guidelines
• Also detailed instructions on access
• Balance need for information against need for authority and security

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• Initial guidelines deliberately very general and liberal
• With experience - specific & restrictive procedures are added
• Domain names being rationalised: from http://www.adfa.oz.au/ to http://www.defence.gov.au/
• Some exceptions: http://www.dsd.gov.au/

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• Whatever is in a media release is "public"?
• Problems with wide distribution on-line, long term storage & a non-specialist audience.
• Details, such as mobile and home telephone numbers not suitable for public release
• Archiving e-docs was addressed by an interdepartmental committe in 1995
• Government Entry Point provides a central index

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• 1995-96 Commonwealth budget put on-line by CIRG
• NLA and DAS provided the central index
• Lessened the risk of a single point of failure
• Allowed each agency to have control of their own budget material
• Relies on links from a known and trusted web site to authenticate content on related sites.
• More secure systems feasible, but need digital certificates and public keys

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• K95: 17,000 ADF troops & six other nations
• Directorate of Public Relations provided reports via the Internet
• Bob Lester transmitted reports & photos from the exercise
• I received them at HQADF in Canberra and up-loaded to ADFA
  (& for a week remotely with a pocket modem & laptop PC)
• First report of Orange force: 29 July; first photo 1 August
• Last report 24 August
• DAS announced trucking tenders for K95 on the 'net
• May be the first military exercise reported direct via the Internet

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• Exercise Tandem Thrust 97
• U.S. Pacific Command sponsored exercise in Central Queensland in March 1997
• To test the capability of Australian and U.S. command and control
• Used Internet e-mail and web servers for military communications
• I did public web pages with US personnel in the task force at sea

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• The 'net & web have demonstrated utility for public information
• Risks are manageable
• Issues with balancing public information provision with security will continue to arise.

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See also:

• Written presentation in web or word processing format
• For Optimising Open Source Information, 7-8 October 1998
• Cyber-Spooks: Open Source Information from the Internet, 9 October 1998
• Other presentations by Tom Worthington
• CI Program Home Page
• Comment to: tom.worthington@cbr.defence.gov.au

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