Software Tools for Information Assured Intelligent Agents (IA)^2 Navy SBIR FY2005.1 Sol No.: Navy SBIR FY2005.1 Topic No.: N05-066 Topic Title: Software Tools for Information Assured Intelligent Agents (IA)^2 Proposal No.: N051-066-0357 Firm: 21st Century Systems, Incorporated 12152 Windsor Hall Way Herndon, Virginia 20170-2359 Contact: Mark Wootten Phone: (703) 850-1866 Web Site: www.21csi.com Abstract: Software Agents and Agent Systems are steadily transitioning from small research projects to mainstream industrial and government markets. Multi-agent systems will live up to the expectations of implementing an openly-architected replacement of legacy stove-piped systems by providing flexible, customizable, user-friendly network-centric solutions. However, most of the currently available multi-agent systems do not address sufficiently the requirements and needs of information assurance. The problem is exacerbated in the DoD, where security requirements are stringent and agents are looked upon as unsafe. potentially harmful entities. To solve this problem in the context of large network-centric enterprise services (NCES) applications in the Navy (and DoD-wide), we propose a tool-based information assurance approach for complex multi-agent systems. By addressing IA as a first-class concern throughout the process of system engineering we enable the construction of systems that are automatically assured based on the certification the tools used to build and test those systems. Thus, the system's IA properties will emerge as a natural side-effect of engineering it in a rigorous manner, using the validated and certified Information Assured Intelligent Agents (IA2) tool suite. This suite of software tools, including analysis and transformation engines for software agents, is the core of the proposed technology. Benefits: This SBIR will culminate in a methodology, an architecture, and a tool set for guaranteed safety of intelligent agents and agent systems. While this work is primarily applied research and there is no Navy program of record which sponsors it directly, this research will result in a new generation of systems engineering tools to enable the construction of open agent-based systems that comply with the established IA requirements, which are applicable to all government and commercial software system programs. The fruits of this work will be transitioned and will directly benefit many Navy and DoD programs with strong software systems requirements. Integrated tactical command and coordination systems, both within the military, and in the homeland security arena, will benefit most from secure intelligent agents for decision support in an openly architected system of systems. Further, this technology will allow overall V&V costs to be reduced to a minimum, since the required IA properties of a system engineered in such way will be guaranteed as derived from the already-proven transformation and generation properties of the tool suite, thus reducing the V&V to that of the reusable tools. Return