Acquiring Publicly Available Information Analytic Tools in a Proprietary Marketplace

📖 The Scoop

Publicly available information (PAI) is a critical form of information for use in military operations. Multiple agencies within the Army collect and analyze PAI to support a range of activities and operations, but these efforts are disconnected and do not leverage economies of scale. Multiple data feeds, tools, and solutions are acquired across various units within the Army on an ad hoc basis, without a single proponent or program of record. Efficiently and cost-effectively acquiring PAI capabilities, conducting analysis, and providing relevant outputs to multiple elements across the Army (and Department of Defense) requires a coherent approach that leverages economies of scale. The goal of this report is to inform U.S. Army Cyber Command (ARCYBER) efforts to acquire and develop PAI analytic methods, tools, and platforms and to improve the Army's return on investment on PAI-enabled efforts. RAND Arroyo Center conducted an inventory of ARCYBER's PAI capability needs, identified available commercial and government off-the-shelf solutions, assessed whether there are gaps in capability coverage, and made recommendations to improve capability investments and support improved collaboration.

Genre: Computers / Data Science / General (fancy, right?)