Networks engaged in weapons proliferation, terrorism, cyber attacks, clandestine resale of dual-use imports, arms and drug smuggling, and other illicit activities are major threats to national security. These adversarial networks in turn rely on legitimate and illegitimate secondary networks for financial, supply chain, communication, recruiting, and fund-raising activities. Complexity, dynamism, resilience and adaptability make adversarial networks extremely difficult to identify and disrupt. Often the only way an individual may be detected is through the networks they use, and the arrest of an individual may not remove the underlying threat if the networks remain intact. In short, our real adversaries are networks.
Our goal, then, is to research and develop analysis capabilities that address adversarial networks. The full title of the project, “Network Discovery, Characterization, and Prediction,” conveys the scope and challenges involved. The discovery of adversarial networks is immensely difficult in its own right. A network may only reveal itself by the union of its parts. Individual relationships and activities may appear completely benign in isolation. Data relevant to network discovery may come from communications, financial transactions, human intelligence reports, shipment records, cyber events or many other sources. It may be geographically or temporally dispersed. Thus, very large and heterogeneous data collections must be analyzed collectively to detect networks. The characterization of networks requires methods for identifying likely relationships that are not captured in the data. The structure of a network conveys information about its purpose and the roles of its component individuals, organizations and activities. It can reveal command and control structure and critical components. Structure can also suggest likely evolution and intent, allowing prediction of the possible future shapes of the network.
In sum, we are creating at Sandia, in support of the nation, the unique capability to answer currently unanswerable questions.
The NGC project team includes research mathematicians, developers, experts in user elicitation, and end-user intelligence analysts, and so has all the needed talent to span the full LDRD spectrum—from Discover through Create to Prove.
The NGC project is funded by Sandia’s Laboratory Directed Research & Development (LDRD) program.
Sandia’s LDRD program was established in order to provide the flexibility to invest in long-term, high-risk, and potentially high-payoff research activities that foster the creative thinking of our scientists and engineers, stretch Sandia’s science and technology capabilities, and support our Laboratories’ national security missions. See a complete list of FY2010 LDRD funded projects by program area and visit Sandia’s official LDRD website to learn more about the program.
For almost 20 years, Sandia’s LDRD program has supported fundamental and applied leading-edge research across the sciences, which has impacted the life to the nation in myriad, tangible ways. For example, LDRD investments in biosciences have enabled Sandia to bring applicable R&D skills to biomedical research that may lead to the development of presymptomatic diagnosis. In the area of high performance computing (HPC), LDRD has long supported the development of novel modeling and simulation tools that have won multiple R&D 100 awards for innovation and utilization by the broader HPC community. Groundbreaking research efforts in the fields of optoelectronics, materials science, and microelectronics have led to new scientific discoveries and strategic partnerships with DOE, DHS, DOD, and EPA.
Download the LDRD Impacts on Sandia and the Nation brochure (3.3 MB PDF) to learn about the seeds planted by LDRD research that have blossomed into science and technology advancements in the national interest—in areas such as radar, energy, water issues, high-performance computing, nano- and micro-technology and medical diagnostics and treatment.
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