Pentagon Wants to Use Social Media On the Battlefield

Artificial intelligence will weave open-source and satellite data into useful intelligence in real time, the Pentagon says.

It still takes the US military too long to turn social media and other open-source information into something that operators in the field can use. Artificial intelligence is going to change that, and give U.S. troops a distinct battlefield edge, says US Deputy Defense Secretary Bob Work.(pictured)

Take the 2014 downing of Malaysian flight MH17 over Ukraine. (A conventional investigation by a European Union Joint Investigation Team took more than a year to affix blame to pro-Russian separatists operating a Russian-made BUK surface-to-air missile.)

To test the current state of machine learning applied to open source intelligence, the Pentagon hired a data integration and geospatial intelligence company called Orbital Insight, a big-data analytics company with a focus on satellite imagery and geospatial data. Most of their business is commercial, for example, they, analyze pictures of parking lots from space to predict holiday sales trends.

The company quickly scanned all available open-source media and assembled a picture of evidence, and did it instantly. He used slides to tell the story to an audience at the Center for Strategic and International Studies: “On the lower left is a Twitter shot of MH17 taking off…The next one comes from ParisMatch.com. It is the picture of the Russian SA-11 launcher with a serial number on it, date and time stamped near the village where the shoot-down occurred; then on Bellingcat.com, the exact same SA-11, at the exact same location. Then there’s a Twitter shot of a contrail of a missile rising at the time of the shoot-down.

Then a rebel leader takes credit for the shoot down on VK.com. That was immediately taken down, by the way. Finally, on YouTube, there’s a picture of the exact same SA-11 with a missile rail that is now mysteriously empty going back into Russia. Learning machines did this without any human interaction.”

That sort of rapid insight will be key to winning future conflicts where not all the players wear uniforms, like the masked “little green men” who invaded the Crimean peninsula in 2014. The United States and other international observers believed that Russian military officers were working with the separatists, a charge Russia at first denied. The ambiguity surrounding the identity of the invaders inhibited a coordinated international response.

“This type of stuff will allow us new indications and warning in gray-zone operations, the little green men,” said Work. “Learning machines can say, ‘There is an influence operation going on. We don’t know who is doing it but here are the key themes of the influence operation.’ There will be new means of going after terrorists. There will be new means of operating against regional powers. There will be new ways of operating against great state powers. This is totally transferable across the range of operations.”  

It’s an example of why next-generation machine learning and artificial intelligence are key to the Pentagon’s push for technologies that will secure military dominance over competing nations, sometimes referred to as the Third Offset.

The military, of course, already uses social media for operations. In 2015, Air Combat Command’s Gen. Hawk Carlisle described how it helped the Air Force pull off a precision strike against ISIS. The airmen were “combing through social media and they see some moron standing at this command,” Carlisle said. “So they do some work, long story short, about 22 hours later through that very building, three JDAMs take that entire building out.”

The goal now is to shorten the time from data collection to actionable intelligence from a day to immediately.

Some observers pointed out that each of those data sources, particularly Bellingcat, the international open source news collective, provided a good indication of an influence operation afoot, and were doing so in real time.

DefenseOne

« Facebook’s Drone Ambitions Are Getting Bigger
Education Is The Key To Minimise Cyber Risk For Business »

Infosecurity Europe
CyberSecurity Jobsite
Perimeter 81

Directory of Suppliers

Syxsense

Syxsense

Syxsense brings together endpoint management and security for greater efficiency and collaboration between IT management and security teams.

North Infosec Testing (North IT)

North Infosec Testing (North IT)

North IT (North Infosec Testing) are an award-winning provider of web, software, and application penetration testing.

Directory of Cyber Security Suppliers

Directory of Cyber Security Suppliers

Our Supplier Directory lists 7,000+ specialist cyber security service providers in 128 countries worldwide. IS YOUR ORGANISATION LISTED?

CYRIN

CYRIN

CYRIN® Cyber Range. Real Tools, Real Attacks, Real Scenarios. See why leading educational institutions and companies in the U.S. have begun to adopt the CYRIN® system.

IT Governance

IT Governance

IT Governance is a leading global provider of information security solutions. Download our free guide and find out how ISO 27001 can help protect your organisation's information.

Cloudbric

Cloudbric

Cloudbric is a cloud-based web security service, offering award-winning WAF, DDoS protection, and SSL, all in a full-service package.

Resource Centre for Cyber Forensics (RCCF)

Resource Centre for Cyber Forensics (RCCF)

RCCF is a pioneering institute, pursuing research activities in the area of Cyber Forensics.

Atlantic Council Digital Forensic Research Lab (DFRLab)

Atlantic Council Digital Forensic Research Lab (DFRLab)

The Atlantic Council’s DFRLab has operationalized the study of disinformation by exposing falsehoods and fake news, documenting human rights abuses, and building digital resilience worldwide.

Vuntie

Vuntie

Vuntie blend European craftsmanship, performance and open-source technology to deliver cybersecurity services including penetration testing, incident response, training and consultancy.

Blockchain R&D Hub

Blockchain R&D Hub

Blockchain R&D Hub's mission is to serve the needs of blockchain ecosystem as the center of excellence for technology research and development.

Innovation Cybersecurity Ecosystem at BLOCK71 (ICE71)

Innovation Cybersecurity Ecosystem at BLOCK71 (ICE71)

Innovation Cybersecurity Ecosystem at BLOCK71 (ICE71) is Singapore's first cybersecurity entrepreneur hub.

OffSec

OffSec

OffSec have defined the standard of excellence in penetration testing training. Elite security instructors teach our intense training scenarios and exceptional course material.

Silicon Cloud International

Silicon Cloud International

Silicon Cloud is a high performance and secure cloud computing platform for engineering and scientific applications.

Dasera

Dasera

Dasera’s Radar and Interceptor products deliver visibility, governance, and protection solutions for data-agile companies.

Communications & Information Technology Regulatory Authority (CITRA)

Communications & Information Technology Regulatory Authority (CITRA)

CITRA is responsible for overseeing the telecommunications sector, monitoring and protecting the interests of users and service providers, and regulating the services of telecomms networks in Kuwait.

HACKNER Security Intelligence

HACKNER Security Intelligence

HACKNER Security Intelligence is an independent security consultancy delivering comprehensive security assessments across IT security, physical security, and social engineering.

ISECURION Technology & Consulting

ISECURION Technology & Consulting

ISECURION is an information security consulting company. We provide a unique blend of services to our customers catering to the current information security landscape.

KYND

KYND

KYND has created pioneering cyber risk technology that makes assessing, understanding, and managing business cyber risks easier and quicker than ever before.

Aunalytics

Aunalytics

Aunalytics is a data platform company that delivers insights as a service to answer your most important IT and business questions.

ANY.RUN

ANY.RUN

ANY.RUN is an interactive online malware analysis service created for dynamic as well as static research of multiple types of cyber threats.

Telit Cinterion

Telit Cinterion

Telit Cinterion is a global enabler of the intelligent edge providing highly secure IoT solutions, modules and services.