McDonald Bradley wins DOD deal

The Defense Department awarded a $20 million contract today to McDonald Bradley Inc. to oversee the new Horizontal Fusion Portfolio Collateral Space Initiative at the Defense Intelligence Agency.

Horizontal fusion involves setting aside space on the military's intranet called the Global Information Grid so warfighters and analysts can quickly and easily post and access satellite imagery, drone video, and information gathered by troops and spies on the ground. McDonald Bradley officials will develop and build a computer network so DIA employees can participate in horizontal fusion, said Kenneth Bartee, president and chief executive officer of the company, located in Herndon, Va.

"Vast quantities of data currently exist in independent data store," Bartee said. "Our challenge will be to find ways to make accessing that data on a secure network both easy and fast while transforming that data into timely knowledge for the fighter in the field."

George Tenet testified today before the committee investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks that intelligence agencies experienced problems sharing data before that date. The director of the CIA said his agency and the National Security Agency did not update their hardware and software fast enough during the 1990s to keep up with the rapidly-changing pace of technology.

CIA officials spy on enemies and foreign governments. NSA officials eavesdrop and process their voice, video and data communications.

The McDonald Bradley deal represents the company's second horizontal fusion contract. It received an $8 million contract in 2003 to support the Defense Department's horizontal fusion initiatives.

The company will also help the military during the Quantum Leap 2 exercise in August. The department held the first horizontal fusion experiment last August.