Trusted Data Format - Base

Trusted Data Format - Base

Chief Information Officer

IC Technical Specifications

Trusted Data Format - Base

Overview

This XML Data Encoding Specification for Trusted Data Format - Base (BASE-TDF.XML) defines detailed implementation guidance for using Extensible Markup Language (XML) to encode BASE- TDF data. This specification defines the XML elements and attributes, associated structures and relationships, mandatory and cardinality requirements, and permissible values for representing BASE-TDF data concepts using XML.

BASE-TDF.XML is the top-level specification from which all other Trusted Data Format (TDF) specifications are generated. TDF specifications, such as XML Data Encoding Specification for Trusted Data Format (IC-TDF.XML), inherit only those capabilities that are needed to fulfill its requirements. Child TDF instances will always validate against the parent BASE-TDF.XML schema, however, BASE-TDF.XML instances are not guaranteed to validate against child TDF schemas.

The IC Chief Information Officer maintains this specification via the Data Standards Coordination Activity (DSCA) and Common Metadata Standards Tiger Team (CMSTT).

Technical Specification Downloads

Latest Approved Public Release:

Mission Requirements

Information sharing within the national intelligence enterprise will increasingly rely on information assurance metadata (including enterprise data headers) to allow interagency access control, automated exchanges, and appropriate protection of shared intelligence. A structured, verifiable representation of security metadata bound to the intelligence data is required for the enterprise to become inherently "smarter" about the information flowing in and around it. Such a representation, when implemented with other data formats, improved user interfaces, and data processing utilities, can provide part of a larger, robust information assurance infrastructure capable of automating some of the management and exchange decisions today being performed by human beings.