Australia has confirmed it is actively exploring the construction of the nation’s own top secret cloud platform to host intelligence data.
In an official announcement, the country’s ’s director-general of national intelligence, Andrew Shearer outlined his hope the initiative will transform the way intelligence agencies operate and enhance collaboration within the Five Eyes intelligence alliance, which comprises Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK, and the US.
The UK and the US already have their own clouds in place, suggesting that Australia could learn a thing or two from their experiences.
Australia’s intelligence cloud will link with other countries
The country’s new cloud infrastructure will be designed with interoperability in mind so that it can function with existing intelligence clouds in other countries, allowing near-instantaneous sharing of data. It is hoped that this will enable the three nations, and others that launch similar programs later, to better coordinate their responses to global security concerns.
At an event hosted by the Center for Strategic & International Studies in Washington, DC, Shearer noted, “What that will do is obviously transform how we do our work as agencies but also it’ll open up a shared collaborative space that will really, I think, reinforce this sense of working together as a genuine community and bringing all those different capabilities to bear on problems.”
The importance of shared standards was also highlighted when Shearer commented on artificial intelligence, suggesting that security analysts, in particular, have concerns about the limitations of AI, but that it could bring huge potential to intelligence gathering and analysis.
Beyond the Five Eyes, Australia is also expanding its intelligence engagement with other nearby Southeast Asian nations and Japan. Shearer also alluded to deeper engagement with some European countries, whose priorities align with Australia’s – a sentiment that has become clearer since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Via The Register
