WASHINGTON ( CNN ) -- When you see people at the office using such Internet sites as Facebook and MySpace , you might suspect those workers are slacking off . A social-networking site for the world of spying officially launches for the U.S. intelligence community this month . But that 's not the case at the CIA , the FBI and the National Security Agency , where bosses are encouraging their staff members to use a new social-networking site designed for the super-secret world of spying . `` It 's every bit Facebook and YouTube for spies , but it 's much , much more , '' said Michael Wertheimer , assistant deputy director of national intelligence for analysis . The program is called A-Space , and it 's a social-networking site for analysts within the 16 U.S. intelligence agencies . Instead of posting thoughts about the new Avenged Sevenfold album or Jessica Alba movie , CIA analysts could use A-Space to share information and opinion about al Qaeda movements in the Middle East or Russian naval maneuvers in the Black Sea . The new A-Space site has been undergoing testing for months and launches officially for the nation 's entire intelligence community September 22 . `` It 's a place where not only spies can meet but share data they 've never been able to share before , '' Wertheimer said . `` This is going to give them for the first time a chance to think out loud , think in public amongst their peers , under the protection of an A-Space umbrella . '' Wertheimer demonstrated the program to CNN to show how analysts will use it to collaborate . `` One perfect example is if Osama bin Laden comes out with a new video . How is that video obtained ? Where are the very sensitive secret sources we may have to put into a context that 's not apparent to the rest of the world ? '' Wertheimer asked . `` In the past , whoever captured that video or captured information about the video kept it in-house . It 's highly classified , because it has so very short a shelf life . That information is considered critical to our understanding . '' The goal of A-Space , like intelligence analysis in general , is to protect the United States by assessing all the information available to the spy agencies . Missing crucial data can have enormous implications , such as an FBI agent who sent an e-mail before September 11 , 2001 , warning of people learning to fly airplanes but not learning to land them . `` There was the question , 'Was that a dot that failed to connect ? ' Well , that person did this via e-mail , '' Wertheimer said . `` A-Space is the kind of place where you can log that observation and know that your fellow analysts can see that . '' Even though Facebook , MySpace and other social-networking sites that inspired A-Space are predominantly the domain of young people , there apparently is no such generational divide on A-Space . `` We have found that participation in A-Space crosses every conceivable age line and experience line . People are excited , no matter what age group , '' Wertheimer said . Of course , the material on A-Space is highly classified , so it wo n't be available for the public . Only intelligence personnel with the proper security clearance , and a reason to be examining particular information , can access the site . The creators of A-Space do not want it to be used by some future double agent such as Jonathan Pollard or Robert Hanssen to steal America 's 21st-century secrets . `` We 're building [ a ] mechanism to alert that behavior . We call that , for lack of a better term , the MasterCard , where someone is using their credit card in a way they 've never used it before , and it alerts so that maybe that credit card has been stolen , '' Wertheimer said . `` Same thing here . We 're going to actually do patterns on the way people use A-Space . '' Yes , analysts can collect friends on A-Space the way people can on Facebook . But nobody outside the intelligence community will ever know -- because they 're secret . CNN 's Barbara Starr and Pam Benson contributed to this report .
U.S. intelligence agencies are urging staffers to use a new social-networking site . Called A-Space , it 's for analysts within the nation 's 16 intelligence agencies . Analysts can use A-Space to share information about al Qaeda , other issues . The agency says that by using this tool they will be able to better understand and prevent future attacks on American interests overseas.