by Sam Culper
During my last tour in Afghanistan, Palantir was quickly becoming the sweetheart analysis software suite of the Army and Marine Corps. Before I deployed, I sat through a class offered by the company, and immediately recognized that it’s great software. Intelligently designed, easy to use, top notch functionality, and categorization options allow an end-user to drill down and really dissect the adversary and surrounding events. It is, however, only as powerful as the end-user allows it to be.
By the time I left the intelligence community, I had become disillusioned with the state of the average analyst (though not every analyst) and much of leadership which is more interested in developing the latest technology instead developing the minds of their analysts. Intelligence analysis is, and likely will be for decades to come, 80% investigation and 20% technology; but tools like Palantir are trying to invert that into 80% technology and 20% investigation. Without a highly inquisitive mind motivated to find the solutions to unanswered or seemingly unanswerable questions, and the proper analytical methods to pick apart your adversary, your analysis of information of intelligence value will be found wanting.
SPACE is an acronym that every good analyst should use, especially where it concerns community security. Its roots are in our operational security (OPSEC) manual, and when the adversary doesn’t care enough to implement SPACE into his security considerations, it’s our job as collectors and analyzers of information to exploit their mistakes.
Everything in Technological advancement and its acceptance to replace mans thinking is being done in the guise of “efficiency” and “accuracy”.
The adverse affect however to that is the ultimate goal and creation of Intelligent Design or Artificial Intelligence, by stealing mans thoughts, actions, and reactions, as it is “learning” and data-mining from MAN
The program EDITS what it is learning.
They don’t call it Artificial for nothing.
There are some critical aspects of Intelligence that should not EVER be replaced by a program.
That is what our Creator gifted MAN with Discernment for.
Machines cannot do this.
The Mil adopts these advancements because it clearly has and allows the superior officers to have “control” over a select staff of investigators which ALL are “thinking” and using the same technological formats. Thus, the human component has essentially been all but removed from the equation and final assessments derived from the software limitations imposed.
This is the future of ALL technology. Replace MAN with the software and the Machine that edits.
A righteous example of Intelligence and technology and the long term consequences those programs have on its “mentors”.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-04-21/how-gps-came-to-be-and-how-it-may-be-altering-our-brains