Project Genoa II was a software project that originated with the United States

Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is a research and development agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the development of emerging technologies for use by the military. Originally known as the Adv ...

Information Awareness Office The Information Awareness Office (IAO) was established by the United States Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in January 2002 to bring together several DARPA projects focused on applying surveillance and information technology ...

and the successor to the

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program. Originally part of DARPA's wider

Total Information Awareness Total Information Awareness (TIA) was a mass detection program by the United States Information Awareness Office. It operated under this title from February to May 2003 before being renamed Terrorism Information Awareness. Based on the conce ...

project, it was later renamed Topsail and handed over to the

Advanced Research and Development Activity The Disruptive Technology Office (DTO) was a funding agency within the United States Intelligence Community. It was previously known as the Advanced Research and Development Activity (ARDA). In December 2007, DTO was folded into the newly created ...

for further development.

Program synopsis

Genoa II was scheduled to be a five-year-long program. It followed up on the research initiated by the first Genoa project. While Genoa primarily focused on intelligence analyses, Genoa II was aimed towards providing means with which computers, software agents, policy makers, and field operatives could collaborate. Eleven different

contractor A contractor is a person or company that performs work on a contract basis. The term may refer to: Business roles * Defense contractor, arms industry which provides weapons or military goods to a government * General contractor, an individual o ...

s were involved in its development.

Mission

The official goals of Genoa II were to develop and deploy the following: 1. Cognitive aids that allow humans and machines to "think together" in real-time about complicated problems 2. Means to overcome the biases and limitations of the human cognitive system 3. "Cognitive amplifiers" that help teams of people rapidly and fully comprehend complicated and uncertain situations 4. The means to rapidly and seamlessly cut across – and complement – existing stove-piped hierarchical organizational structures by creating dynamic, adaptable, peer-to-peer collaborative networks

History

In 2002, Tom Armour, a veteran of the Genoa project, was selected by

John Poindexter John Marlan Poindexter (born August 12, 1936) is a retired United States naval officer and Department of Defense official. He was Deputy National Security Advisor and National Security Advisor during the Reagan administration. He was convic ...

to be the director of the new Genoa II program, a component of

(TIA) effort. It was commissioned under the cost of $54 million. In late 2003 TIA was officially shut down by

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due to unfavorable views from the public. Most of its research was salvaged and its components were transferred to other government agencies for development. Genoa II was renamed Topsail and handed over to the

National Security Agency The National Security Agency (NSA) is a national-level intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collectio ...

division for further work. In October 2005, the

Science Applications International Corporation Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), Inc. is an American technology company headquartered in Reston, Virginia that provides government services and information technology support. History The original SAIC was created in 196 ...

signed a $3.7 million contract for work on Topsail. Tools from the program were utilized in the

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and in other efforts as part of the

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. In early 2006 a spokesman for the

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said that Topsail was "in the process of being canceled due to lack of funds." When inquired about Topsail in a

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hearing that February, both

National Intelligence Director The director of national intelligence (DNI) is a senior, cabinet-level United States government official, required by the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 to serve as executive head of the United States Intelligence Commu ...

John Negroponte John Dimitri Negroponte (; born July 21, 1939) is an American diplomat. He is currently a James R. Schlesinger Distinguished Professor at the Miller Center for Public Affairs at the University of Virginia. He is a former J.B. and Maurice C. Sh ...

and

FBI Director The Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation is the head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, a United States' federal law enforcement agency, and is responsible for its day-to-day operations. The FBI Director is appointed for a singl ...

Robert Mueller Robert Swan Mueller III (; born August 7, 1944) is an American lawyer and government official who served as the sixth director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from 2001 to 2013. A graduate of Princeton University and New York ...

said they didn't know about the program's status. Negroponte's deputy, former

NSA Director The director of the National Security Agency (DIRNSA) is the highest-ranking official of the National Security Agency, which is a defense agency within the U.S. Department of Defense. The director of the NSA also concurrently serves as the Chie ...

Michael V. Hayden Michael Vincent Hayden (born March 17, 1945) is a retired United States Air Force Four-star rank, four-star General (United States), general and former Director of the National Security Agency, Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence, ...

said, "I'd like to answer in closed session."TIA Lives On
''

National Journal ''National Journal'' is an advisory services company based in Washington, D.C., offering services in government affairs, advocacy communications, stakeholder mapping, and policy brands research for government and business leaders. It publishes d ...

'', 23 February 2006, retrieved 14 June 2016

References

{{reflist

External links

Genoa II Presentation DARPAtech 2002
DARPA Mass surveillance Military computers Counterterrorism in the United States National Security Agency Privacy in the United States Surveillance