Following entry is a record in the “Catalogue of Catastrophe” – a list of failed and troubled projects from around the world.
MI5 – MI6 – UK
Project type : Intelligence sharing system
Project name : Scope
Date : Mar 2009 Cost : reported to be tens of millions of pounds
Synopsis :
System designed to share intelligence between separate groups in the UK intelligence gathering community is cancelled due to “technical concerns”. The Cabinet Secretary reported “… we know that the way they were planning to do won’t work… So we are working actively on ways in which we can achieve those benefits, but probably through rather different routes.”
Contributing factors as reported in the press:
The committee responsible for the oversight of the project reported “We remain very concerned, however, by the numerous delays… a general lack of preparedness for full implementation amongst SCOPE partners, and difficulties in providing a secure environment for the deployment of SCOPE overseas.”
Note also:
The British are not alone in having troubles sharing information between intelligence agencies. As a cross reference also read about the “Railhead” project, that the US Department of Homeland Security cancelled in 2008.
Reference links :