Fiscal Year	2014
Division	Research & Sponsored Programs
Department	Naval Research Program
Investigator(s)	Dimitrov, Nedialko B.
Sponsor	NPS Naval Research Program (Navy)
Summary	The advent of sensing technologies -- from electro-optical devices to cyber interceptors -- has resulted in a plethora of sensors that collect and transmit an unprecedented glut of data. These data need to be processed and analyzed in a timely manner in order to produce useful information for operations. In a nutshell, and in view of the aforementioned challenge, we propose to answer the following question: Given a pile of intercepted communication (e.g. phone calls, emails, etc.), each between two (identified, partially identified, or unidentified) persons, and a limited amount of time, how should the intelligence processor screen the communications so that the maximum number of relevant items are passed onto analysts? We will develop a model and algorithm for optimally selecting intelligence items intercepted from a communication network, for screening in the presence of time and resource constraints. The intent is to create a method to concentrate an intelligence agency's focus in the face of a glut of information. This research builds on an initial model developed in an NPS Master's thesis by Nevo (Nevo 2011) and incorporates advanced methods and techniques from graphical models (Koller & Friedman 2009) and Bayesian inference (Dagum & Luby 1997). The research focus will be to make that model more relevant, by incorporating new aspects of real-world intelligence collection that are not yet accurately captured in the model. In addition, a secondary goal will be to develop software to test the intelligence collection methodology on simulated intelligence queries. This research will aid the intelligence community in several ways: 1) it will create mathematical models for the deployment of limited resources to gather the most relevant information from a glut of collected data 2) it will test the mathematical models, to ensure they are relevant to intelligence analysts and produce quantifiably better results in intelligence collection.
Keywords
Publications	Publications, theses (not shown) and data repositories will be added to the portal record when information is available in FAIRS and brought back to the portal
Data	Publications, theses (not shown) and data repositories will be added to the portal record when information is available in FAIRS and brought back to the portal