ISSUE 182 : Jul/Aug - 2010 - Australian Defence Force Journal

‘Reaching back’ for information and capturing operational insightsThe role of the Operational Reachback cell is to provide the mechanism through which S&Tdeployed analysts can be supported by expertise drawn from the wider DSTO community.The team thus acts as a conduit in providing deployed analysts with ready access to DSTO’sS&T knowledge base and, where necessary, that of the wider science community. Thisassists the deployed S&T personnel in undertaking a much broader range of S&T activities,while also giving them the ability to respond with a greater degree of flexibility to requestsfrom commanders.The goal of the ODE cell is to provide insight into operational issues through the analysis andevaluation of reported information, including reports from ADF forces and coalition sources, aswell as information available in the public domain. Functionally, this includes data extraction,determining trends and patterns, knowledge management and futures studies. Currently, theevaluation and development of techniques for the recognition, extraction, and organisationof relevant information within unstructured documents is receiving considerable attention.Of interest are new and challenging approaches such as semantic search, entity resolution anddata fusion concepts. The establishment, use and maintenance of social information, referredto as ‘human terrain databases’, is another area of current interest. DOSC conducts counterinsurgencyfocused OA in support of ADF operations in Afghanistan and also has a smallteam dedicated to transitioning operational insights from S&T deployments into the broaderADF community.The Operational Reachback and ODE cells not only provide a conduit for access to a widerinformation base and a means for Defence to learn from the insights gained from currentoperations but they also act to capture, collate and store such information in a way that makesit more accessible, more easily interpreted and more readily understood.Direct support to current operationsSince 2005, over 80 civilian and military analysts have deployed on ADF operations aroundthe world. Before they are deployed, DSTO scientists undergo a rigorous selection process,followed by structured training. The DOSC not only trains but sustains a pool of civilian andmilitary analysts for deployment. This has been an iterative process, backed by a combinationof lessons learned from returning analysts and feedback from commanders in the field. Inaddition to scientists and military personnel from Australia undertaking the course, there arenow observers from Canada, Sweden, Germany and Britain studying how Australia preparesits analysts.60