On 2 April 2010 the Associated Press reported that the United States Department of Homeland Security was revising their airline security policies, moving away from physical, corporeal screening, to procedures based on intelligence.

‘It is a more intel – or intelligence-based – way to screen,’ said Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. ‘It is a stronger way to determine whether passengers should go through secondary examination and not just primary examination.’ (Associated Press, 2010)

Such policies are reflective of a new ‘bottom-up’ approach being adopted by security agencies in the US and worldwide wherein the production of just-in-time ‘smart’ intelligence is increasingly based not only on information generated by data-mining the web, but also through the intelligence community’s use of their own interoperable suite of social media platforms. While the turn towards increased governmental intelligence may be common knowledge, what may come as a surprise is that the new ‘smart intelligence’ involves entrusting more decision-making power to the collective wisdom of the ‘crowd’ through the adoption of the same kind of ‘bottom-up’ social media platforms and social tagging practices that everyday people use to keep up with their family and friends.