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Combating Terrorism
Terrorism, as well as other forms of asymmetric threats, represents a broad topic area that encompasses an extremely wide range of concepts ranging from security to logistics, finances, recruitment, and operations. Visual Analytics has been involved with many organizations combating this threat by providing next-generation information sharing and analytical systems.
As we all know, terrorism is a global phenomenon that exists in every nation and can be focused on either government or commercial industries. The goal of terrorism is to influence the attitude and behavior of a "target group" (e.g., the victims) by carrying out devastating actions. VAI believes in a strong offense to proactively target and stop terrorist groups before they strike.
Terrorism is usually viewed in the form of violent actions such as bombings, shootings, or other forms of destruction and may even entail the use of biological, chemical, and/or nuclear agents. New classifications such as economic terrorism and information terrorism are also of significant concern to our national security and must be addressed accordingly. VAI technologies are designed to be adaptable and can be used to address virtually all types of information sharing and data analytics required to deal with the different types of terrorism.
Individuals, groups, or state-sponsored organizations can formulate and conduct terrorism. Although the majority of their actions will be covert, disguised, or concealed to make it difficult to track them, they still must perform basic "operational" functions in pursuit of their objectives. Many terrorist groups exhibit standard business operations such as acquiring an assortment of materials and supplies for carrying out their missions, performing travel in conjunction with their objectives, and communicating with other group members using phones, e-mail, and beepers.
Financing these operations can be accomplished through weapon sales, narcotics trafficking, bank robberies, or other illegitimate means and therefore often lead to money laundering activities. These "public" operational encounters where observations can be made and data collected are when terrorists are most vulnerable and it is where their weaknesses can be exploited. These events can be tracked and analyzed by VAI technologies and used for early detection of potential threats, assessment of vulnerability, and to produce recommended courses of action (e.g., force protection and interdiction).
Continued on VAI News page
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April showers have brought forth a magnitude of May flowers in the Washington area this year.
Many projects that have been in the planning stages at VAI are blooming, our partnerships
are flourishing, and our customer base is growing. Our technologies are changing the analytical
landscape throughout the world. We invite anyone interested in learning more about our products
to review the materials describing the Data Clarity Suite
and contact us for more information.
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The first update patch for VisuaLinks 3.0 has been released to the VAI Support Site.
This update addresses some minor bug fixes, performance optimizations, and control issues.
See the VisuaLinks News page for details on the changes made in the 3.0.1 release -
and make sure to download the latest from our Support Site.
This month's Link Chart is a continuation of coverage of corporate fraud patterns based
on payment of invoices from a Vendor Master File. A number of inconsistencies and anomalies
are exposed using the Summarize service.
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Even as the DIG 2.0 Server-to-Server functionality continues to gain interest throughout the analytical community, VAI is focusing on the new features of the DIG 2.1 release. This release will include enhancements to existing features and a number of new features designed to expand and build the current DIG functionality.
Visit the DIG News page for an introduction to the re-designed Scheduler included in 2.1. You will also find a discussion of the current Search Objects feature and an overview of the new Patch Upgrade system.
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Information sharing for DHS, money laundering investigations for Treasury, and fraud analyses for corporate
auditors are but a few of the ongoing events that VAI actively supports with our partners. In our global marketplace,
the processes used for one domain often have application in other domains to help expose the hidden patterns and trends.
VAI has recently revamped our training program to provide more exposure to different types of analytics and we are
currently scheduling training classes for VisuaLinks 3.0 and DIG 2.0. If interested, give us a call before space fills up.
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"After seeing VisuaLinks, I cannot begin to describe the variables that can be used to connect, identify and link information. It is truly powerful."
- DC Government Official
If you have any comments you wish to publish in the LinkLetter, please send them to newsletter@visualanalytics.com.
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