Role of Data Scientist in Military & Intelligence

19-Apr-2022

In the age where the world's superpowers are constantly upgrading their military strength and strategies, data science has carved its importance in the military and intelligence field. Military Leaders of the world superpowers recognize the critical role of data science in the military and are also cognizant of the fact that the twenty-first-century battlefield will be led by whoever leads the artificial intelligence. There is a universal consensus that developing a workforce capable of embracing fast technological change is vital.

The olden age military system and that of now are vastly different given the growth in technology which has significantly empowered the military. There is a shift in the total appearance and intelligence from beefed up and ripped cops to more fit intellectuals. The reason for this transition is that in addition to physical strength, modern military, law enforcement operations, and Intelligence require a large lot of data analysis received through a variety of channels including the internet, satellites, phones, and so on. On a daily, minute by minute, or even second by second basis, such data is generated on a local and international scale.

Understanding Data Scientist Role in Military

Data science has a massive role in Military and intelligence grounds. A data scientist's role in the Military is characterized by the support the organization gets from data scientists by reducing the chance of failure, obtaining a better understanding of anti-national forces, acquiring unique insights, assisting in efficient expansion, and enhancing event predictions. These benefits will further minimize operations casualties, collateral damage, crime rates, terror attack rates, and cross-border intrusion rates. It thus goes without saying that the military, intelligence, and law enforcement feed and the benefits data science draws in this technologically driven world

Let us break down the critical roles played by data science in the military in the following

Modern Warfare Requires Data

The modern advanced sensor suites like ARGUS-IS have incredible capabilities that border on black magic. However, according to Defensetech, the military is having difficulty finding individuals to mine all of the data generated by those systems. The Department of Defense has sought out firms as diverse as National Geographic and ESPN in order to better understand how to manage the influx of data. This is where an expert data scientist's role in the military comes into play.

One approach for dealing with the rapid surge is - automation. Data scientists, like the ARGUS-IS, are employing machine intelligence technologies to filter through data feeds and identify potential targets for human inspection.

Military data scientists have a unique difficulty not faced by civilian data scientists, that is, dealing with deliberate obfuscation and interference with data collecting. Military and terrorist contacts are rife with spoofing, jamming, and deception. Data scientists with advanced training are constantly attempting to develop algorithms that can detect such deceit.

Conventional forces are adopting the Internet of Things, which enables previously "dumb" devices such as tanks and weapons to have inbuilt logic and networking capabilities, hence expanding the amount of data available. To increase access to intelligence and more efficiently monitor opponents, counter-terrorism police are now tapping into civilian sources of data such as surveillance cameras, cellular networks, and public records databases.

The challenge for data science in both military and counter-terrorist organizations is to combine automatic detection with artistic interpretation by professional data scientists to provide actionable intelligence.

Action validates detection and interpretation

Gathering and evaluating data from drones and other sensor platforms, however, is only half the battle. The other half is getting actionable intelligence to soldiers and agents in the field in a timely manner. The difficulty of connecting field operatives and troops to the network is a significant task in and of itself, but it pales in comparison to the complexity of delivering data quickly and clearly in high-stress situations.

In modern warfare battlefield, big data becomes a powerful weapon akin to a double-edged sword. The insights gained from the data can provide businesses a significant advantage over their competitors, but the flood of data can obfuscate key information behind a barrage of less important updates.

Designing systems capable of transforming a data stream into relevant information that troops may use to improve situational awareness is a key data scientist role in the military.

Tracking of Forces applying the Internet of Things

On the battlefield, knowledge of the opponent is just marginally more valuable than knowledge of one's own forces. For Instance, during the Persian Gulf and Iraq Wars, a rash of friendly-fire, or "blue-on-blue," episodes illustrated the dangers of not keeping attack units fully informed about each other's location and capabilities.

A program is known as "Blue Force Tracker" was created in response to these issues in the US military. Blue Force Tracker (BFT) uses the Internet of Things to install a GPS receiver, a satellite transceiver, and software in tanks and other military vehicles. The vehicle's location and other status data are uplinked to military communications satellites and then combined with data from other vehicles and systems to offer a complete real-time picture of all assets in the vicinity. BFT allows commanders to see force deployments and optimize routes based on geography and tactical planning, in addition to preventing unintended fratricide.

Military Logistics leverage Big Data to Feed the Machine

Military logistics operations are life and death for the warriors. Civilian logistics operations are important to global business. The science of logistics, as it is presently understood, began as a science concerned with military supplies and supply lines. With current conflicts being conducted on the other side of the globe more often than usual, transporting Reaper parts and fuel to forward airstrips is more critical than ever. Today, data scientists, like their civilian counterparts at FedEx, are working to improve military supply chain management.

Data Scientist Role in Military to Automate Various Programs

To deal with budget constraints, the military is now employing more practical Big Data applications. Every year, the Department of Defense consumes over a third of the national budget. It has a tremendous physical presence all over the world and employs the world's largest workforce of 3.2 million people. Programs like the Automated Energy Audit, which crawls through building environmental control data to find up to 2,000 distinct optimizations with the goal of lowering energy usage, can make a big difference.

Many intelligence agencies that are heavily involved in overseas activities create vast amounts of data and have recognized the necessity for data scientists. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), for instance, has a specific Data Scientist position. The salary ranges from $62,338 to $199,794 for this position. They will be responsible for organizing and interpreting Big Data in order to inform US decision-makers, drive effective operations, and define the CIA's technological and resource investments.

Data science in Intelligence applies not only with cutting-edge hardware and software but also with methodologies to develop computational algorithms and statistical methods for detecting patterns and relationships in massive amounts of data. They present their conclusions to a lay audience in a logical manner.

Data science in the military is used for a variety of purposes, including intelligence, surveillance, border management, maritime management, space management, and operational planning, as well as logistics, financial management, disaster management, future technologies, cognitive analysis, and historical data analysis.