Case Studies: ADNET - Using Technology In The War On Drugs

It was among the US Coast Guard's proudest days. On August 20, 1996, information obtained by its Caribbean counter-drug effort led to the capture of the motor vessel 'Oyster,' a boat containing four tons of cocaine.

Coast Guard officials were ecstatic to seize $40 million worth of cocaine — enough to fill a large U-Haul trailer. They acknowledged that the overall success of the capture wasn't theirs alone; they also credited the landmark AntiDrug Network (ADNET).

ADNET is an integrated information network, developed with Booz Allen's help to share anti-drug information across a range of US Government agencies whose mission involves fighting drugs or drug-related crime.

It demonstrates the way technology can transcend corporate culture barriers — in this case, government agencies. And perhaps most significant of all, it puts the tools and processes in place, so those agencies, used to working on their own, can collaborate to win the war on drugs. In the case of the Oyster, 'I would characterize ADNET's service ... as outstanding' says a senior Coast Guard Admiral responsible for operations.

For the US Government, that war has been fought for years, using vast resources from several dozen agencies to combat both the flow of illegal drugs into the United States and their sale and use within its borders. ADNET dates to1989, when the Defense Authorization Act charged the US Department of Defense (DoD) to serve as the single lead agency of the US Government for the detection and monitoring of aerial and maritime transit of illegal drugs into the country. As part of the mandate, DoD was charged with integrating the US Government's command, control, communications and technical intelligence assets to take that war to a new level.

Those client organizations included the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), various US DoD organizations, the US Customs Service, the US Coast Guard, the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), the National Security Agency (NSA), several US embassies, and state and local law enforcement agencies. In the past, each organization had 'owned' some pieces of information and fiercely guarded their freedom to act independently, generally citing security and legal basis for the information protection.

Making It Work

But when those integration and data-sharing efforts proved difficult, it took a McLean-based, multi-crown Booz Allen team to make the system work. Starting in 1993, when responsibility for ADNET was transferred to the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), Booz Allen helped develop ADNET into a fully distributed enterprise information management system. It had been a narrowband communications system that simply supported the dissemination of detection and tracking data.

The team took a very limited network and incorporated off-the-shelf technology to create a fully distributed enterprise information system, linking what had been fragmented segments of the US Government, says Ted Shema, ADNET's original Officer-in-Charge, who remains closely involved with the project.

The system is based on intranet architecture, which uses the technology of the Internet to ensure electronic communication within institutions in order to create a counterdrug 'community of interest.'

'As is true of all warfare, knowledge of the enemy's intentions, position and movement is critical to victory,' says Shema. 'Before ADNET, this information wasn't shared, and all too often, activities weren't coordinated. Joint planning and execution were the exception. By any measure, ADNET is a major success.'

For current Officer-in-Charge John Myers,'ADNET opens up the information flow between agencies, to solve the coordination challenge and create information systems and sharing that was once difficult to achieve.'

'Participating organizations used to be fiercely protective of their 'proprietary' information,' says Myers, a retired US Army Lt. General. 'Each had a stovepipe system entirely within its organization.' Adds Associate John Ferranti, an ADNET team member, 'What we've helped to do is create a private 'America Online' for the counter-drug community.'

Making ADNET run efficiently was both a technical and political challenge, says Myers. 'If we could solve the technical problems and deliver an effective system, the political challenges could perhaps be overcome,' he says. 'To make it work, Booz Allen addressed and resolved a number of technical issues and barriers.'

Indeed, Booz Allen's structuring of ADNET cuts through a lot of those barriers, making use of the many technologies used primarily on the World Wide Web. Drawing from its Worldwide Technology Business resource base, the firm provides the tools to make ADNET fully functioning, which includes everything from system concept development and hardware/software integration, to database management system design and development, training, system administration and network management and operational end-user support. Specifically, ADNET provides:

• A 'home page' in which each organization can publish its own information

• The ability to produce and distribute reports instantaneously throughout the network

• The capacity to support video teleconferencing and to subscribe to news groups, e-mail 'alerts' and electronic bulletin boards that post information about their activities

• An on-line opportunity to coordinate and produce reports with the participation of geographically separated groups

• The rapid distribution of electronic intelligence about target aircraft and ships, as used in the cocaine seizure on the 'Oyster.'

Today, ADNET, with Booz Allen as its technical driver, includes more than 200 workstations at 70 locations in more than 35 US Government organizations. Policy information that once took months to be absorbed is now available instantly, with its security protected by secure firewalls and guards that isolate proprietary networks and systems. 'Without Booz Allen,' says Shema, 'ADNET could have been just another disappointment in the attempt to apply information technology.'

The US Attorney General Janet Reno has directed an initiative that could incorporate ADNET as the defacto information system standard for the Department of Justice's participation in the war on drugs and adapt it for broader use in crime-fighting. Elsewhere, the Coast Guard has adapted ADNET as the model for its own system.

'I am keenly aware of the impact the ADNET Program has had in providing intelligence between 80 activities across 35 Federal Government agencies,' says US Air Force Lt. Gen. Albert Edmonds, the former director of DISA. '(And) I am cognizant of the role that Booz Allen & Hamilton has played in making ADNET the major success story it is today.'

Delivering Expertise To Other Clients

The ADNET program enabled Booz Allen to deliver and support a complex information system. It demonstrated the firm's ability to use off-the-shelf technology and integrate it into a system that supports the heterogeneous database access and the rapid insertion of new technologies.

In supporting every aspect of the ADNET life cycle, from requirement analysis to operational support, Booz Allen developed in-depth expertise in emerging information technologies and World Wide Web capabilities.

In the meantime, ADNET team members — drawn from the Defense, Information Technology, Civil Programs and National Security Teams — have applied system integration and software skills developed on the assignment to create an integrated software package used extensively throughout DoD and law enforcement. And ADNET team members have taken capabilities developed on the assignment to other clients, including Bell Atlantic, the National Institutes of Health, and the US Air Force Weather Service Meteorological Information Standard Terminal.