Highlands Group
The Highlands Group is an international consulting network based in Bethesda, Maryland, Washington, D.C. and Carmel Highlands, California.1)
History
Founding
Richard O'Neill founded the group in 1994. It was formed as an “[i]nformal cross-disciplinary network established to explore information revolution issues” and “conflict in an information age” to assist the United States Department of Defense (DoD) and the United States Government in general.2)
Highlands Forum
The first Highlands Forum was sponsored by the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD), held in Carmel Highlands in February 1995 with “about a dozen people” in attendance. The Forum's co-chairs at the time were O'Neill, Andrew Marshall of the Department of Defense, and Anthony Tether of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) (formerly vice president of SAIC’s Advanced Technology Sector).3)
The focus of the first set of Highlands meetings was information warfare, spurring the creation of strategy and policy documents on “information operations.” This resulted in “a variety of institutions that were formed in order to carry all that out.”
In addition to the Highlands Forum since 9/11 the Group runs the ‘Island Forum,’ an international event held in association with Singapore’s Ministry of Defense, which O’Neill oversees as “lead consultant.”4)
According to the Pentagon’s 1997 Annual Report to the President and the Congress under a section titled ‘Information Operations,’ (IO) the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) had authorized the “establishment of the Highlands Group of key DoD, industry, and academic IO experts” to coordinate IO across federal military intelligence agencies.
The following year’s DoD annual report reiterated the Forum’s centrality to information operations: “To examine IO issues, DoD sponsors the Highlands Forum, which brings together government, industry, and academic professionals from various fields.”
President’s Commission on Critical Infrastructure Protection
The Highlands Group participated in the creation and activities of the President’s Commission on Critical Infrastructure Protection (PCCIP), as well as Joint Vision 2020.
Activities
The Highlands Group hosts the Highlands Forum, Singaporean Island Forum, the St. Michaels Forum, and the Information Engagement Forum.
Forum Participants
Clients
Clients of the Highlands Group include:5)
- Global Business Network (GBN)
Organization
Personnel
| Name | Position | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Linton Wells | Chair6) | National Security Agency (NSA) |
Affiliations
The Highlands Group is partnered with Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC).
External links
1)
About. Highlands Group. Retrieved June 13, 2008, from https://web.archive.org/web/20080613131735/http://www.highlandsgroup.net/about.php?ID=1
2)
O’Neill, R. P. (2001). The Highlands Forum Process. Program on Information Resources Policy. https://web.archive.org/web/20230214081302/http://www.pirp.harvard.edu/pubs_pdf/o%27neill/o%27neill-i01-3.pdf
3)
, 4)
Ahmed, N. (2015, January 22). How the CIA made Google. Medium; INSURGE intelligence. https://archive.ph/TSJrH
5)
Our clients. The Highlands Group. Retrieved February 20, 2001, from https://web.archive.org/web/20010220162639/http://www.highlandsgroup.net/static/clients.html
6)
Friel, B. (2006, May 15). Start Your Idea Engines. Government Executive. http://archive.today/2022.05.08-000634/https://www.govexec.com/magazine/features/2006/05/start-your-idea-engines/21898/