Making Sense of Big Data in the Intelligence Community

Being the 21^st century, the majority of the information gathered by the Intelligence Community (IC) comes from the Internet. This is where the most communication occurs, where documents are stored and where research is conducted. The online world stores a mass of information that allows the Intelligence Community access game-changing information. This information, however, has been growing exponentially and is expected to continue this intense growth rate. The Intelligence Community needs to understand these massive amounts of data and in turn make real-time intelligence from the data.

Big Data and the Intelligence Community

Mining Big Data has become a primary concern of the IC, which is especially evident in our post 9/11 world and the recent request by the White House for a larger IC budget. Understanding and making use of Big Data is essential since it holds a wealth of information that can prevent national crises and ultimately, save lives. There are billions of documents and social media exchanges housed in searchable databases that are inaccessible through traditional search engines. This sea of information holds so much potential knowledge for the IC that they can’t afford not to find ways to access this Big Data.

Infinit.e Makes Sense of Big Data

IKANOW’s open-source analytics software, Infinit.e, can create automated collection processes to more efficiently navigate through intelligence collection. Search parameters can be created, data sources can be plugged into Infinit.e and searched, and documents meeting the criteria can be discovered and delivered in a matter of minutes.

The amount of Big Data information will only continue to grow exponentially and this makes a huge impact on the Intelligence Community as a typical agency is already required to process terabytes of data on a daily basis. Social media networks are the most popular data sources to the IC as of late, and the majority of that data is unstructured and therefore inaccessible without advanced technology. News feeds and email messages can also be included in this sector.

Access to this unstructured data can be made simple and efficient with tools like Infinit.e. Infinit.e allows data analysts to quickly and appropriately respond to critical requests, which enables the Intelligence Community to be proactive rather than reactive. Harnessing and using Big Data will streamline the duties of the Intelligence Community and give them more insight than ever before, which will ultimately end up making America a safer place to live.

Interested in learning more about Infinit.e? Request a demo today.

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