Analyzing covert social network foundation behind terrorism disaster

This paper addresses a method to analyze the covert social network foundation hidden behind the terrorism disaster. It is to solve a node discovery problem, which means to discover a node, which functions relevantly in a social network, but escaped from monitoring on the presence and mutual relationship of nodes. The method aims at integrating the expert investigator's prior understanding, insight on the terrorists' social network nature derived from the complex graph theory, and computational data processing. The social network responsible for the 9/11 attack in 2001 is used to execute simulation experiment to evaluate the performance of the method.Comment: 17pages, 10 figures, submitted to Int. J. Services Science

Node discovery in a networked organization

In this paper, I present a method to solve a node discovery problem in a networked organization. Covert nodes refer to the nodes which are not observable directly. They affect social interactions, but do not appear in the surveillance logs which record the participants of the social interactions. Discovering the covert nodes is defined as identifying the suspicious logs where the covert nodes would appear if the covert nodes became overt. A mathematical model is developed for the maximal likelihood estimation of the network behind the social interactions and for the identification of the suspicious logs. Precision, recall, and F measure characteristics are demonstrated with the dataset generated from a real organization and the computationally synthesized datasets. The performance is close to the theoretical limit for any covert nodes in the networks of any topologies and sizes if the ratio of the number of observation to the number of possible communication patterns is large

Delegated Dictatorship: Examining the State and Market Forces behind Information Control in China

A large body of literature devoted to analyzing information control in China concludes that we find imperfect censorship because the state has adopted a minimalist strategy for information control. In other words, the state is deliberately selective about the content that it censors. While some claim that the government limits its attention to the most categorically harmful content—content that may lead to mobilization—others suggest that the state limits the scope of censorship to allow space for criticism which enables the state to gather information about popular grievances or badly performing local cadres. In contrast, I argue that imperfect censorship in China results from a precise and covert implementation of the government's maximalist strategy for information control. The state is intolerant of government criticisms, discussions of collective action, non-official coverage of crime, and a host of other types of information that may challenge state authority and legitimacy. This strategy produces imperfect censorship because the state prefers to implement it covertly, and thus, delegates to private companies, targets repression, and engages in astroturfing to reduce the visibility and disruptiveness of information control tactics. This both insulates the state from popular backlash and increases the effectiveness of its informational interventions. I test the hypotheses generated from this theory by analyzing a custom dataset of censorship logs from a popular social media company, Sina Weibo. These logs measure the government's intent about what content should and should not be censored. A systematic analysis of content targeted for censorship demonstrates the broadness of the government's censorship agenda. These data also show that delegation to private companies softens and refines the state's informational interventions so that the government's broad agenda is maximally implemented while minimizing popular backlash that would otherwise threaten the effectiveness of its informational interventions.PHDPolitical ScienceUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/147514/1/blakeapm_1.pd

Freedom through Education: The Sunflower County Freedom Project

The United States intelligence community is an integral part of the security of our\u27 nation. It has been continually growing and redesigning itself for the past 230 years to suit the needs of the people and of the nation. Inhibiting the American intelligence system, however, is the struggle for the U.S. to find a balance between the rights of the people and the security of the nation. This struggle has been at the basis of change in almost every instance of intelligence redesign. It is these changes that have become the study of this thesis. Major trends found in the redesign of the U.S. intelligence system can be categorized in three ways. First, early American intelligence history shows the common mindset that intelligence was needed only in times of war. Were intelligence used in peace time, it would be a breach of the people’s rights to privacy as well as a breach of trust among nations. Second, as the nation evolved and became embroiled in more and greater conflicts, the people realized that it was necessary to not only have intelligence during wars, but also, in order for war time intelligence to be most effective, it had to remain flmctioning during peace time. It was essential, however, that these new, full time intelligence units severely limit their capabilities and functions during peace time. Finally, it has only been in the last sixty years that intelligence units have existed and functioned both during times of war and of peace. Vitally important to the study of these changes in attitude towards intelligence are the three common threads which are found throughout history. These threads which bind the history of intelligence redesign include: 1) Change to the intelligence community V comes on the heels of intelligence failures; 2) Intelligence failures occur because of the lack of cohesion in the intelligence community; 3) The lack of cohesion stems from the inherent American struggle to find a balance between rights and security

The Struggle Against Bandits: The Cuban Revolution and Responses to CIA-Sponsored Counter-Revolutionary Activity, 1959-1963

Following the 1959 victory of the Cuban revolution, the United States government along with the CIA and their Cuban émigré allies immediately undertook a campaign of subversion and terrorism against the Cuban revolution. From 1959 until 1963 a clandestine war was waged between supporters of the revolution and the counter-revolutionary organizations backed by Washington. This project is a new synthesis of this little-known story. It is an attempt to shed light on a little known aspect of the conflict between the United States government and the Cuban revolution by bringing together never-before seen primary sources, and utilizing the two distinct and separate historiographies from the U.S. and Cuba, concerning the clandestine struggle. This is the story of Cuba’s resistance to intervention, the organization of the counter- revolution, and finally how the constant defeat of CIA plots by the Cubans forced changes in U.S. strategy concerning intervention in Cuba and in other parts of the developing world that would have far-reaching and long-last effects

United States Human Trafficking Task Force

Human Trafficking is a multi-billion-dollar industry which is both a domestic and foreign issue for the United States government. The purpose of this paper is to address the issues such as: lack of a centralized task force, lack of funding and an introduction of a new method of investigation which utilizes intelligence to fight human trafficking. The results found through research and interviews with federal agents have shown that a federal task force utilizing federal, state, and local law enforcement along with nongovernmental organizations (NGO’s) and government would have a positive, profound effect against human trafficking. It is recommended that law enforcement fight human trafficking by collecting evidence via intelligence gathering methods and then disseminate the information to the appropriate agencies. This would enable law enforcement to track human trafficking trends as they cycle through the country. With a centralized task force, member agencies would be able to easily access the intelligence databases and communicate with one another. Since human trafficking is a covert crime which moves quickly with high stakes, communication and collaboration are extremely important in order to fight it