Fergie's Tech Blog

New Name for MASINT: ATEP

Wilson P. Dizard III writes on GCN.com:

The intelligence agencies have renamed their MASINT program and will now refer to the recondite spy discipline as the Advanced Technical Exploitation Program (ATEP). The name change surfaced in documents that describe a pending acquisition for contractor assistance in merging information from various types of sensors and systems to create cross-disciplinary intelligence.

MASINT, an acronym for Measurement and Signature Intelligence, has existed in the shadows of the better-funded and more public intelligence disciplines, or INTs, such as signals intelligence (SIGINT), human intelligence (HUMINT), imagery intelligence (IMINT) and so forth. The spy agencies' drive to eliminate the bureaucratic and information technology barriers that hamper creation of synergistic intelligence products based on combining information gathered by the various INTs meshes with ATEP's long-standing mission.

Details of ATEP's plans came to light in a sources-sought notice issued by the National Air and Space Intelligence Center (NASIC).

posted by Fergie @ 3/18/2008 01:32:00 PM