UGov: a Valuable Communications Lifeline at Mission

UNCLAS KABUL 003253 DEPARTMENT FOR CIO SUSAN SWART AND IRM/BPC/CST DEPARTMENT ALSO FOR NEASCA/EX USFOR-A FOR POLAD SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: AMGT AADP KRIM AF SUBJECT: UGov: a Valuable Communications Lifeline at Mission Afghanistan REF: 10/2: www.intelink.gov message "UGov Enterprise Email Service Termination"; 09KABUL1840 and reftels ¶1. The Interagency Provincial Affairs (IPA) Office of Mission Afghanistan has begun to rely on the Intelink portal and the associated "UGov" enterprise email as a primary mechanism for communication with our Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) and other field representatives from the Department of State, USAID and USDA. At present, almost 135 field officers have active Intelink passports, and we are working aggressively to migrate all users away from commercial email (such as Gmail and Yahoo) to SBU-capable UGov. With the steady increase in field positions, we anticipate that over 400 U.S. Mission users will use Intelink and related enterprise services, including UGov, by March 2010. ¶2. Since 2002, field representatives, especially those in coalition-led PRTs, have been forced to rely on commercial email accounts to communicate with Embassy Kabul because it was the only low-band-width, internet-based platform available to them. While convenient and inexpensive, these commercial accounts are not appropriate for handling sensitive information that field representatives must send and receive on a daily basis. The enterprise solution offered by Intelink and UGov resolves a plethora of communication issues, providing a low-bandwidth platform that is SBU-capable. We are using it not only for basic email, but also for shared documents, briefcases (where groups of related documents can be organized and stored) and calendars. This is particularly useful in Afghanistan, where phone lines are unreliable and where field reps rely heavily on slow satellite communication for internet connection. Embassy Kabul is working to bring OpenNet and better technology to all civilian desktops in Afghanistan, but it could be up to a year before the technology is fully functioning in all locations. We understand and appreciate that the State CIO has approached the ODNI on the importance of continuing the UGOV capability for both existing and new users at least thru FY10. We hope that Intelink and UGov will continue to be available as a key component of our knowledge management needs in Afghanistan and as a valuable source of support for USG personnel working under extremely adverse conditions to advance America's highest priority foreign policy objectives. ¶3. We invite you to view our PRT Portal in the Intellipedia portion of the intelink website at http://www.intelink.gov/wiki/, then enter "Portal: Afghanistan Provincial Reconstruction Teams" in the upper left hand corner and click the Go button. EIKENBERRY