The Justice Dennis O'Conner analysis and recommendations from the Commission of Inquiry into the Actions of Canadian Officials in Relation to Maher Arar, has caused many law enforcement and intelligence agencies to reflect on their capacity to analyze "raw" or unstructured data. The vital importance of a criminal and intelligence analyst has again been illustrated through the dangerous reliance on information vs. intelligence. As all analytical subject matter experts will state, intelligence is the final product of collection, collation, evaluation, analysis, and dissemination. Until information is evaluated, sourced, and confirmed reliable it should not be counted upon for any judicial process, reasonable grounds, or strategic and tactical planning. 

Unfortunately, with this reminder, we are faced with the reality that the unstructured open source data imperative for analysts to review is too voluminous to handle. Consequently, we must look at technology alternatives that support the role of a criminal and intelligence analyst. There is always an element of risk associated to automation, but considering the alternative of not discovering valuable and relevant facts - the risk is acceptable.

Analyzing open source data is very time consuming and thus, the human resources necessary to research and analyze raw information are significant. The fundamental issue is the huge effort required to manually extract and convert unstructured data into meaningful "Entities and Facts" that can be collated and indexed.  A technology solution to this problem exists today and is within reach of the Canadian intelligence community; the Inxight suite of SmartDiscovery products!

SmartDiscovery^TM Awareness Server - Search Multiple Data Systems and Sources

SmartDiscovery^TM Automated Entity Extraction

SmartDiscovery^TM Automated Fact Extraction

SmartDiscovery^TM Automated Categorization

Considering the significant number of catastrophic behavioural activity occurring throughout the world, it is hard to post a blog which does not include some reference to current events. As North Americans, or as some would call us "Westerners", we are quite comfortable in our well protected, financially secure, peaceful, provided for, technically modern society. Nevertheless, we are launched from time to time into a kaleidoscope of memories of pain, suffering, crime, terrorism, and turmoil. This is good! It is unhealthy for us to be apathetic. We need the occasional "total recall" of past and not so distant events that shake our society to remind us that we must contribute. All you need to do is read the newspaper or watch the TV news and you are quickly made aware of the most recent turmoil. The latest shooting spree at a Montreal college, the 5th anniversary of 911, the war in Afghanistan -- where our own Troops are front and center, and the Palestinian / Israeli conflict are some recent examples.

It is no wonder that our front line law enforcement officials, our intelligence community, and the various governmental departments ask for our help. A pattern of increased attrition involving the most senior, experienced and competent personnel has developed among multiple organizations. The Canadian Military is looking to hire thousands of new staff, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police cannot train new Constables quick enough to fill their vacancies, Alberta retail and service industries are scrambling to recover since school is back, and the Energy sector is expanding beyond projected commercial support capacity.

Important Conference, Trade Show and International Forum on Defense, Public Safety, and Security.

The TechNet North 2006 Conference in Ottawa between September 19^th and 21^st will host a variety of sessions focused on technology and communication intelligence. The trade show is open to guests who have not registered for the conference. Visit the "Inxight booth" and learn the latest about "text analytics" and the newly available suite of products for Industrial / Corporate Security, Canadian Government, Law Enforcement, and Intelligence. Trinus Technologies is an official partner of Inxight Federal Systems.