I suspect the goal here is to automate the task of intelligence analysts. As the quantity of signal data has gone up exponentially, the DoD needs ever more subject matter experts who are also schooled in data science techniques. But that's a rare combo of skills, and given the high demand for these folks in industry and the better pay there, I suspect Uncle Sam is suffering a dire unmet need. Ergo the proposed solution: automate them.
But the example in the article of traffic modeling with 30 person-months of analysis and 90 p-months of cleansing illustrates how hard such analysis actually is. Ain't no way you can automate it.
Useful intel signal is hard to find in noise, especially in what by now must be zottabytes. Enlisting anyone to do analysis without deep domain expertise, especially someone as dumb as a computer, is not a promising strategy for success. But it sounds like a great way for beltway bandits to get funding for long term blue sky R&D contracts...
But the example in the article of traffic modeling with 30 person-months of analysis and 90 p-months of cleansing illustrates how hard such analysis actually is. Ain't no way you can automate it.
Useful intel signal is hard to find in noise, especially in what by now must be zottabytes. Enlisting anyone to do analysis without deep domain expertise, especially someone as dumb as a computer, is not a promising strategy for success. But it sounds like a great way for beltway bandits to get funding for long term blue sky R&D contracts...