DHS secret network at the forefront of nationwide intelligence sharing

A new directive aimed at easing the sharing of classified information about terrorist threats elevates the role of a little-known but long-established Homeland Security Department secret network, according to Bush administration officials.

DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano on Friday released the guidance, which President Obama called for in an August 2010 executive order, to align security standards for accessing classified data across all levels of government and in the private sector.

The issuance comes as the Defense Department prepares for a military court session later this week charging that Pfc. Bradley Manning wrongfully fed intelligence from the military's classified network to the anti-secrets website WikiLeaks. The WikiLeaks imbroglio prompted a second presidential order in October 2011 that aims to prevent insiders from sharing confidential government information with unauthorized outsiders.

The new directive positions a DHS-run system called the Homeland Secure Data Network as "the U.S. government's primary non-defense, secret level classified information network." The pipeline was initiated in 2005 by then DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff but many people outside the federal government are unfamiliar with it, said Charles E. Allen, the former DHS undersecretary for intelligence and analysis.

The policy states that other classified networks, including the military's Secret Internet Protocol Router Network (SIPRNET), can interface with the DHS network to allow authorized users entry.

"In some instances the Department of Defense or another federal agency may allow for or sponsor [state, local or tribal] activities for access to its agency owned classified systems," the policy states. "Access to the DOD-owned SIPRNET or any other federal agency system through the HSDN gateway by [state, local or tribal] personnel shall be at the discretion of DOD or the applicable federal agency."

On Monday, Allen praised Napolitano for spelling out the role of the network and creating consistency among a morass of executive orders, statutes and regulations on the sharing of classified information nationwide.

This "puts in place a governance structure and uniform security standards to make sure we do not have the kind of disaster the Department of Defense had with security leaks in the war zone," said Allen, now a principal at the Chertoff Group, a consulting firm founded by the former DHS secretary.