Do you think that online gaming can enhance analytic performance? IARPA wants to know.

Last Updated on Saturday, 13 March 2010 07:16 Written by Jeffreycarr Saturday, 13 March 2010 07:16

World of Warcraft screenshot

The Intelligence Community’s version of DARPA, known as IARPA, has issued a fascinating pre-solicitation (IARPA-RFI-10-04) which asks for a brief pager on how immersive games and virtual worlds can help overcome some of the common problems experienced by intelligence analysts, such as groupthink, premature attachment to early hypotheses, confirmation bias, and cultural bias.

From the solicitation:

IARPA is interested in focused, quantitative research to understand how virtual worlds and immersive games may have RW effects, particularly those effects that could positively impact individual and group analytic performance. What are the important VW (and RW) environmental variables that control the strength and persistence of such effects? Examples of variables include, but are not limited to: degree of fidelity, image and sound quality, level of immersion, amount of repetition, social effects, narrative structure, language skills, and cultural background.

Submissions should be theory-driven, and any prospective VW or game development, along with experimental paradigms to test their effectiveness, should be informed by existing or new theories. Theories may be derived from a number of disciplines, including but not limited to: education, clinical psychology, social psychology, health care, or neurology.

Submissions may also address one or more of the following topics:
1. Alternative virtual environments, ranging from Virtual Reality rooms to desktop/laptop applications to mobile handheld devices/applications
2. Quantitative methods for reliably predicting and objectively measuring expected RW effects and actual RW effects due to the complex variables, including longitudinal effects
3. Literature reviews or perspectives on research. Research does not need to be directly related to analytic processes, but may be based in other domains such as VWs for education/training, or gaming for health.

The responses to this RFI will be used to help in the planning of a one to two day workshop. The results of this workshop may justify a multi-year competitive program. The selection of topics, participants, and setting of the agenda of this workshop will in part be informed by the responses, with responders potentially being invited to participate and present at this workshop. It is anticipated that this workshop will be held in May 2010.

Instructions on how to respond are in the pre-solicitation. The deadline is April 10, 2010 so get moving on this!

Former Director for Operations at DIA nominated to lead TSA

Last Updated on Wednesday, 10 March 2010 07:22 Written by Jeffreycarr Wednesday, 10 March 2010 07:22

TSA, which has seemed completely lost in the woods regarding how to accomplish its mission, will finally have the benefit of an experienced intelligence officer at the helm. The following comes from AviationNews.net:

President Obama’s decision to nominate retired Army Maj. Gen. Robert Harding as TSA administrator brings the agency a chief with “national security expertise and extensive experience in the intelligence community,” DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano said.

“Effective transportation security involves protecting our citizens from constantly evolving threats while facilitating legal travel and trade around the country and throughout the world,” Napolitano said. “Bob’s national security expertise and extensive experience in the intelligence community and U.S. Army will be a great asset to the department in our efforts to ensure the safety of the nation’s transportation systems.”

Harding currently is president and CEO of his own security consulting firm, Harding Security Associates, LLC.

Harding’s 33 years of military service included assignments as the deputy to the Army’s Chief of Intelligence, as the director for operations in the Defense Intelligence Agency, and as the commander of the Army’s only organization focused on homeland security. He also served as the executive vice president for operations at a medium-sized logistics and supply-chain security company. He has extensive experience running global operations, as well as providing security for sensitive national programs, facilities and technologies.

Harding’s education includes a bachelor of science degree in business administration from Bowie State University, a master of science in business from Salve Regina University, and a master of arts degree in national security and strategy from the U.S. Naval War College. His education also includes the Armed Forces Staff College and the U.S. Naval War College.

A Definitive Counter Cyber Operation in 3 Easy Steps

Last Updated on Sunday, 28 February 2010 10:35 Written by Jeffreycarr Friday, 26 February 2010 12:18

You’ve probably read Mike McConnell’s editorial in yesterday’s Washington Post “We’re losing the cyber war. Here’s the strategy to win it.” Overall, it was a pretty good article which promoted the implementation of these tactics:

1. Re-engineer the Internet to make attribution easier.

2. For irrational actors (i.e., terrorist groups), preemptively “degrade, interdict, and eliminate” their leadership and capabilities.

3. Improve information flow between public and private sectors, particularly companies whose networks have been attacked and protect them from the lawsuits which may follow such sharing.

With all due respect to the Admiral, those tactics, sound as they be may, each have a number of obstacles blocking their immediate implementation.  In the meantime, I offer 3 recommendations which can be implemented today at little to no cost that will quickly and dramatically reduce the ability of State-sponsored actors and Non-State actors to continue their attacks against not only U.S. networks but ANY nation state’s networks. They are:

1. Deny access to safe havens in Eastern Europe and Asia by implementing something akin to a COIN strategy to the smaller States that could use our help (most of the Commonwealth of Independent States and Taiwan, for example). An international law enforcement effort led by the FBI and other agencies could provide welcome assistance to these states’ respective agencies who are also victims of the same criminal hacker gangs. This would provide us with the first four of David Kilcullen’s 28 Articles:

1. Know your turf

2. Diagnose the problem

3. Organize for intelligence

4. Organize for interagency operations

2. Reduce their attack platform by compelling U.S. Internet Service Providers (ISP) to verify ALL of their customers’ registration data and turn off every customer with inaccurate information until they correct the problem. This is a vital step because so many bad actors rely on services provided by U.S. ISPs (20 of the world’s top 50 bad ISPs are in the U.S.).

3. Break trust in their tools and alternative payment channels (I won’t elaborate on this in a public forum but I’m happy to discuss it privately).

These steps can be taken today with no extra funding, no re-engineering of Internet architecture, and no Congressional approval. And once taken, the criminal hacker gangs who have been enjoying a perfect storm of high profit and low risk will immediately begin feeling the pain.