DIA works on strategy for advanced analysis capabilities

The Defense Intelligence Agency last week disclosed it is putting together a technology and acquisition strategy to develop advanced capabilities for analyzing large volumes of intelligence data.

The strategy focuses on a concept called the Joint Intelligence Virtual Architecture (JIVA) which will use artificial intelligence or other sophisticated tools to assist data analysts as they sift through many types of data gathered from multiple sources.

DIA has not defined all aspects of what JIVA will entail but the agency has developed a strategic plan and what it calls a "terms of reference " said DIA director Lt. Gen. Patrick M. Hughes at a breakfast sponsored by Federal Sources Inc. DIA also has submitted a request for funding to the administration a DIA official said last week.

"We do have concepts and some ideas we are interested in getting others " Hughes said.~At the very least JIVA "is not merely automation " Hughes said. It could entail everything from computer systems and training to analytic methodology and personnel assessment.

The agency envisions a collaborative environment that allows analysts dispersed across the globe to work in concert. DIA also expects to support interaction with other parts of the intelligence community.

The concept of JIVA is driven by a need to get a better grasp on all the data that DIA and other agencies have within their grasp. Currently "we are overwhelmed by information " Hughes said. "We know too much and understand too little."

DIA worries that the overwhelming amount of data raises the potential for human error. "In fact the propensity for making errors in judgment based upon faulty data is high " Hughes said. "We need to develop a system that will work us through that - that will assist us in getting the right information to the right people at the right time."

Essentially DIA wants to see a lot more data analysis taking place before the human analyst gets in the picture by using cognitive tools: software that can replicate the human thought process.

As such JIVA is expected to consist of "very high-volume and completely interactive and compatible data systems which can interrelate using artificial intelligence " Hughes said. These systems are expected to use "some form of machine-to-machine interaction - absent the human in the loop - to assist us in mining the data " he said.

The JIVA operation environment would be based on the Global Broadcast System while the software would support the Defense Department's Common Operating Environment for command and control systems DIA said.

So far DIA has not disclosed its acquisition strategy.

However vendors in the intelligence community said JIVA would probably emerge with a number of different components much like DOD's Global Command and Control System.

It is difficult to estimate the value of JIVA acquisitions until DIA provides more details vendors said although it is expected to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars.