Leveraging Intelligence Resources

Intelligence agencies today are under tremendous pressure to perform. Escalating terrorist threats from around the world have created national security imperatives to collate, decipher, corroborate, and disseminate accurate intelligence analyses effectively in a timely manner. The problem is that intelligence officers and analysts suffer from information overload. In reality, there are more intelligence-gathering facilities than there are the resources to analyze all the incoming data effectively. Machine translation is a software-based technology that can aid intelligence analysts and linguists in processing the volumes of incoming information whether from print, electronic, audio and video sources. This White Paper discusses how intelligence agency management can apply machine translation as a much-needed support tool that can make linguists and intelligence analysts more effective in producing meaningful and actionable results.

Security Threat Scenario

The BBC just reported that Scotland Yard has arrested three Chechen rebel operatives in Liverpool. A search of the operatives' living quarters uncovered plans for attacks at several large spectator event gatherings in the U.S. What was not determined was the precise nature of the target event (i.e., sports, entertainment, religious gathering) or its timing. Although unconfirmed, it was believed the attack would take place over the next several weeks with the first attack occurring in a matter of days. The apparent motive for the attacks was to lay blame on Islamic fundamentalists in Afghanistan and Pakistan to create a diversion for a major arms-smuggling operation that the Chechens had conspired with their ex-patriots living in the U.S.

The Afghan and Pakistani governments were quick to denounce the reports as lies and falsehoods. Al Jazeera broadcasts the surge of public outrage and denials emanating from each country. At the same time, local radio, television and newspapers join the uproar with their own portrayals of the Chechens' conspiracy.

BBC further reported that email intercepts and phone call monitoring by MI5 led to the arrests. The CIA and NSA had similar monitoring activities underway but did not correlate the incoming information in the same way and in the same timeline as the British.

Believing that they are already behind on time, the National Security Advisor and Homeland Security Director together must decide whether to raise the national security alert to HIGH/RED and to advise the organizers to cancel important and closely-watched events and games, or to risk the safety and welfare of tens of thousands of fans attending these venues, and potentially ignite panic around the country.

Both need to know with a higher degree of certainty if the threats are real or simply the vivid imagination of desperate men. But how do they sort the wheat from the chaff of all the data? What is credible and what isn't? More importantly, the window of time to decide and take action is closing. A number of such large events are scheduled in major cities around the country over the next several weeks.


Intelligence Operations Imperatives and Challenges

What are intelligence agencies to do in such a high-risk scenario?

Intelligence agencies operate under a similar mandate:

1) Gather as much information as possible from as many sources as possible.

2) Prioritize, translate, interpret, and correlate all the incoming information.

3) Develop conclusions and recommendations, and advise the decision-makers promptly.

While these are all desirable program objectives, the real-world environment in which intelligence agencies conduct their day-to-day business today is neither this orderly nor controlled.

For the most part, intelligence agency management operates under five imperatives:

Manage the Information Flow - Organize and analyze large volumes of incoming information, and cope with a growing backlog.

Develop the Needed Skill Levels - Recruit, train, and retain skilled intelligence analysts and linguists.

Make It Timely - Process and decipher the incoming information in real-time or near real time.

Get It Right - Ensure the quality and accuracy of the results.

Compare Notes ? Collaborate and share information comparing findings and conclusions with other agencies.

Information management is a growing problem. A July 2005 audit of the Federal Bureau of Investigation translation services bureau1 found that its collection of foreign language content had outpaced its translation capabilities. The stark reality is that the FBI could not translate a significant amount of the foreign language counterterrorism and counterintelligence material that it collected.