Virtual University Helps Fight Terrorism

During the terrorist attack, Rose had been working at Bolling Air Force Base on an important Defense Intelligence Agency project — the recently launched Joint Intelligence Virtual University (JIVU).

"That day our project changed to mission critical," Rose said.

The virtual university, designed to increase the quality and timeliness of training for the intelligence community, had become operational six months earlier. At the time of the terrorist attack, the JIVU team was updating the content of one of its flagship training courses for Intelligence Analysts — Battle Damage Assessment — incorporating lessons learned from the war in Kosovo. The updated course proved to be very timely and valuable when, less than 30 days later, Operation Enduring Freedom began and U.S. military aircraft and missiles attacked Afghanistan.

"Overnight, demand for the courses went to white hot," said Rose, who is SAIC's program manager for the virtual university.

Currently, more than 13,000 military and civilian Intelligence professionals worldwide are registered users of JIVU. They can choose from a 300+ mixture of courses including distance learning modules — covering such topics as counterterrorism and asymmetric threat — that are taken online from their desktops via secure networks. Instead of traveling to a central classroom, to listen to 80 hours of lecture, a student can gain access to virtually the same instruction, 24/7, with more dynamic content, self-paced, and for practically no cost.

In recognition of their e-Learning efforts, the Defense Intelligence Agency and the JIVU team received the CIA's National Intelligence Meritorious Unit Citation — the highest unit or group honor given by the Intelligence Community.

According to the CIA, the self-paced, Web-based intelligence training has proven to be a cost-effective and timely way of acquiring the skills needed for current and future challenges. Training modules that previously took months to develop can now be designed within weeks or days. While the intelligence courses are at the heart of the training, JIVU has expanded to offer other product lines, including administrative courses, such as records management, and systems courses, such as information assurance.

SAIC, along with an integrated team, designed, developed, and fielded the virtual university. SAIC brought its extensive experience in systems engineering, software development, and instructional technology to the project. Our SAIC team works with DIA subject matter experts to develop and deliver the specialized training that the intelligence community requires.

The JIVU team has broken new ground in not only providing a comprehensive site for distance learning on the classified networks used by the intelligence community, but also in being a shared resource for the worldwide community on the Internet. JIVU is constantly innovating, keeping pace with DoD's Training Transformation Plan, released earlier this year.

"I've got a top-notch team and a forward-thinking customer," Rose said. "But it's when we get an e-mail from a soldier in Iraq thanking us for a piece of timely information that we remember who we're really working for."

Related Information

• Homeland Security