OPSHIELD: Operation Protection System that Holistically Extracts Intelligence for Logistics Data

The military is increasingly reliant on contracted support from commercial entities to provide services. This contracted support leaves information in the public infosphere, such as opportunities to bid on contracts, increased logistical activity, and social media posts, collectively called publicly available information (PAI). Countermeasures must be put in place to reduce the likelihood or severity, or eliminate exploitation of these indicators. With so much information available online, data that affect operations may be a small amount proportionally, so identifying which data put troops at risk requires computational power. To meet the Air Force’s need for an automated operations security analyzer that processes PAI assessing risks of disruption, deterrence, or degrading of military operations, Aptima and its partner, PatchPlus Consulting, propose to develop the Operation Protection System using Holistic Intelligence Extraction from Logistics Data (OPSHIELD). The system will integrate disparate publicly available data sources, utilize pattern of life (PoL) analysis, and determine whether operations expose data that can be exploited by adversaries and put the mission at risk. The result will be an integrated planning tool allowing operation planners to quantify the risk of each operation plan (OPLAN), and providing recommendations to minimize the highest risk factors and increase operation success.