About This Site

The National Intelligence Council (NIC) is a U.S. Government entity, operating as part of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI).  The NIC is sponsoring this GT2030.com website to provide a forum where guest bloggers can discuss selected topics to be raised in the NIC’s upcoming Global Trends 2030 (GT2030) publication. These guest bloggers – government officials; NIC IC Associates; academicians; or experts from independent think tanks or other consultancies – will author and run this blog through September 2012.

Guest bloggers will be responsible for setting the discussion framework; providing articles; and moderating any comments received (see Blog and Comment Policy below).  As such, the views and opinions expressed by the guest bloggers on the GT2030.com website may not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the NIC, the ODNI, or the U.S. Government.

In addition, any references made to specific commercial entities, products, processes, or services by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise do not constitute or imply endorsement or recommendation by the NIC, the ODNI, or the U.S. Government.

Further, neither the NIC nor the ODNI guarantees or warrants the accuracy of any information posted by guest bloggers to this blog site, and both disclaim all liability for any loss, damage, or other injury resulting from the content of or reliance on any such information.

Blog and Comment Policy

The LEAVE A REPLY feature on the GT2030.com website is provided as a means to facilitate dialogue regarding the Global Trends 2030 publication.  Individuals who wish to LEAVE A REPLY have the option of providing their e-mail, name, or website, or posting a comment as an “anonymous” user.  Individuals are encouraged to share their comments and ideas through the LEAVE A REPLY feature, but cannot independently post content to the site.

Guest bloggers will review all comments and replies prior to posting.  They will not discriminate against any comment or replies based solely on the views expressed, but reserve the right to edit or not post comments containing:

  • Vulgar or abusive language;
  • Potentially libelous material;
  • Personal attacks of any kind;
  • Offensive terms that target specific groups;
  • Spam or comments that are not relevant to the blog’s topic;
  • Commercial promotions;
  • Solicitations of  funds;
  • Information that promotes or opposes any political party; person campaigning for elected office, or any ballot proposition;
  • Reports of criminal or suspicious activity – if you have information for law enforcement, please contact your local police agency;
  • Unsolicited proposals, or other business ideas or inquiries;
  • Solicitations for contracting or commercial business;
  • Classified or proprietary information, or information protected by other statutory or regulatory regimes (e.g., intellectual property; copyrighted materials; licensed materials; privacy protected information; etc.);
  • Any claims, demands, informal or formal complaints, or any other form of legal and/or administrative notices or processes; or
  • Embedded links to external websites or applications.

Linking Policy

The NIC also uses the following types of applications to provide timely and relevant information on the GT2030 publication:

  • RSS Feeds:  Really Simple Syndication (RSS) allows users to subscribe to receive updates when new information is posted to this website.  Information delivered through the use of RSS is referred to as a “feed.” The GT2030.com website supports RSS feed subscriptions for the GT2030.com website blog.
  • Social Networking Sites and Micro-Blogs:  The NIC maintains official government pages and accounts on third-party social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter.  While users are encouraged to share their comments and ideas, please note that Facebook and Twitter forums are not moderated by the NIC or the ODNI and that your activity on these sites will be governed by the security and privacy policies of the third-party site owner.

Privacy Policy

The GT2030.com website is provided as a service through WordPress, an independent third-party social networking tool.  It is not exclusively operated or controlled by the ODNI or NIC, and is not part of the official ODNI or NIC government domains (dni.gov or dni.gov/nic).  Therefore, users are advised that theODNI Privacy Policy does not apply to WordPress in the operation of this site.

By interacting with the GT2030.com website, users should be aware that any information provided via features such as LEAVE A REPLY will be protected as described in this GT2030.com privacy policy, but will also be subject to the WordPress privacy policy.  Be sure you understand the protections afforded to any information you provide before you interact with this site.

In using the LEAVE A REPLY feature, you have the option of posting comments anonymously, or of providing your name, e-mail address, and website.  If you choose to provide your name, e-mail address, and website – and your comment is posted – only your name will appear along with your comments.  Note, however, that all information you provide, and also your Internet Protocol (IP) address, will be visible to WordPress and NIC GT2030.com website administrators.  However, neither the NIC nor the ODNI will collect, retain or use this information for any purpose.

To protect your privacy, as well as the privacy of others, do not include additional personally identifiable information (PII) as part of your comments, such as Social Security Numbers; home or business addresses; phone numbers; etc.  Both the NIC and the ODNI disclaim all liability for any loss, damage, or other injury resulting from the inclusion and content of or reliance on any such information.

Neither the guest bloggers nor the NIC will use the GT2030.com website to actively seek PII, search for or by PII, collect or retain the PII of individuals posting comments, and “follow” or “like” individuals posting comments.  In addition, the NIC will not have access to, nor will it collect, retain, or disseminate, PII or account information from users of third-party social media sites and micro-blogs who “follow” or “like” the GT2030.com website.

Guest bloggers may identify comments that may be helpful to inform the development of the GT2030 publication.  The content of these comments will be retained by the NIC, with all PII removed so that the comments are not linkable to or identifiable of an individual.  The NIC complies fully with ODNI records management and disposition policies.  Any comments retained will be considered Federal records and managed accordingly.

As part of its service, WordPress provides website analytics and usage data to the NIC regarding user interaction with the GT2030.com website (e.g., activity logs, chat logs, website analytics, etc.).  This data is password protected, does not include PII, and will be used by the NIC to understand and optimize usage of the GT2030.com website.

Notwithstanding the above, the NIC reserves the right to provide data or information regarding a particular comment or posting to appropriate officials for investigation where it believes the comment or posting reflects that illegal activities have occurred or may be about to occur.