Networks for Intelligence and Law Enforcement

Location: BPC 170

Instructors: Curtis Hampton and Phil Willburn

What makes a person important or relevant in social movements or in dark networks? How do you process the immense amount of data produced by these types of networks? This 1-day (Fri) workshop introduces the tradecraft of applying social network analysis (SNA) to bulk data to answer key intelligence and law enforcement questions like these.

The first half of the day starts with a proven and effective workflow outlining the simplest method of applying SNA to massive network problems. Demonstrated through a combination of lecture and group activities, this workflow includes building the network, calculating the SNA metrics, interpreting the results, and drawing actionable inferences based on the results.

The second half of the day will be spent completing a capstone activity focused around a real-life case study. The capstone will bring together everything learned in the first half of the day and provide experience and practice using the tools to draw inferences based on SNA results. Students can either work with the provided bulk dataset or they can bring their own data to work with.

The goal of this workshop is to present SNA as a methodology for quickly identifying important people within a massive network and then characterizing the role those people fulfill based on their structural position within the network to help intelligence and law enforcement professionals make actionable decisions.

Facilitators Curtis Hampton and Phil Willburn have worked in the Intelligence Community both teaching various SNA courses as well as applying SNA to a wide range of high-level national security issues. Curtis Hampton is currently a Social Network Analysis Specialist at Leidos (formally known as SAIC). He teaches analysts the tradecraft of applying and interpreting SNA in the intelligence community. Phil Willburn is currently a Faculty member & Network Scientist at the Center for Creative Leadership. He was formerly the Director of Social Network Analysis Training at SAIC where he trained hundreds of intelligence and law enforcement professionals on the tradecraft of applied SNA.