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CTIC: It’s Not Just Another Pretty Space
Jan. 19, 2018
DYNAMIC PAGE -- HIGHEST POSSIBLE CLASSIFICATION IS
TOP SECRET // SI / TK // REL TO USA AUS CAN GBR NZL
(U//FOUO) CTIC: It's Not Just Another Pretty Space
FROM: the Counterterrorism Primary Production Center (S2I)
Unknown
Run Date: 09/26/2006
(U//FOUO) Okay, the Counterterrorism Innovation Center (CTIC) is different. And a bit
disruptive. CTIC looks and feels like a design studio, recreation room, tradeshow floor, cognitive
systems lab and Internet café all rolled into one. Its main function, however, is pretty simple:
CTIC is a place where the right mix of people and technology can help us imagine better ways of
doing our work and help validate various technical approaches to getting it done.
(U//FOUO) The CTIC has three main focus areas. It is:
1. an innovation center where analysts can come together to discover and create new
approaches to a problem;
2. a transformation center where analysts can "test-drive" high-powered tools not
previously available to the government, to see how we can use them to improve our
analytic horsepower; and
3. a germination center where analysts can find new ways to use existing tools that have
a proven value in another, specific arena of NSA's business.
(U//FOUO) There are plenty of great ideas out there, and a lot of problem-solving already
underway. Part of CTIC's mission is to amplify and focus such efforts while building a foundation
to tackle bigger, systemic issues.
(U//FOUO) Some of those bigger issues are grouped around target technology themes like
the following:
(S//SI) Contributing to the development of VoiceRT , a voice-services platform. Initially
VoiceRT will focus on voice keyword search technology and then expand to other
applications such as speaker and language identification. (See related article .)
(C//REL) Persona Analysis and Tracking Techniques ( PATT ): PATT intends to translate
data into information sets that analysts can readily absorb, and create data
summarization presentations, such as a summary of a target's activity online.
(U//FOUO) The CTIC will foster visual analytics innovation. "Visual analytics" is a new
term coined for an old concept - that humans are optimized to make judgments on visual
data.
(U//FOUO) Workflow Management - i.e. efficiently managing those sets of processes
and functions required to fulfill our daily tasks. In the CTIC we will develop technical
solutions so that analysts are relieved from manual processes, such as data entry and
working in multiple GUI's (graphical user interfaces), by giving them a fully automated
workspace.
(U//FOUO) CTIC project teams study specific issues, characterize gaps and shortfalls, imagine
possible solutions, and recommend mature commercial- and government-off-the-shelf (COTS,
GOTS) technologies for evaluation. Other projects, organized around themes like analytic
integration and customer interaction, are intended to lay the foundation for improvements in
collaboration techniques and higher-level analysis.
(U//FOUO) The "before" view...
DYNAMIC PAGE -- HIGHEST POSSIBLE CLASSIFICATION IS
TOP SECRET // SI / TK // REL TO USA AUS CAN GBR NZL
(U//FOUO) CTIC: It's Not Just Another Pretty Space
FROM: the Counterterrorism Primary Production Center (S2I)
Unknown
Run Date: 09/26/2006
(U//FOUO) Okay, the Counterterrorism Innovation Center (CTIC) is different. And a bit
disruptive. CTIC looks and feels like a design studio, recreation room, tradeshow floor, cognitive
systems lab and Internet café all rolled into one. Its main function, however, is pretty simple:
CTIC is a place where the right mix of people and technology can help us imagine better ways of
doing our work and help validate various technical approaches to getting it done.
(U//FOUO) The CTIC has three main focus areas. It is:
1. an innovation center where analysts can come together to discover and create new
approaches to a problem;
2. a transformation center where analysts can "test-drive" high-powered tools not
previously available to the government, to see how we can use them to improve our
analytic horsepower; and
3. a germination center where analysts can find new ways to use existing tools that have
a proven value in another, specific arena of NSA's business.
(U//FOUO) There are plenty of great ideas out there, and a lot of problem-solving already
underway. Part of CTIC's mission is to amplify and focus such efforts while building a foundation
to tackle bigger, systemic issues.
(U//FOUO) Some of those bigger issues are grouped around target technology themes like
the following:
(S//SI) Contributing to the development of VoiceRT , a voice-services platform. Initially
VoiceRT will focus on voice keyword search technology and then expand to other
applications such as speaker and language identification. (See related article .)
(C//REL) Persona Analysis and Tracking Techniques ( PATT ): PATT intends to translate
data into information sets that analysts can readily absorb, and create data
summarization presentations, such as a summary of a target's activity online.
(U//FOUO) The CTIC will foster visual analytics innovation. "Visual analytics" is a new
term coined for an old concept - that humans are optimized to make judgments on visual
data.
(U//FOUO) Workflow Management - i.e. efficiently managing those sets of processes
and functions required to fulfill our daily tasks. In the CTIC we will develop technical
solutions so that analysts are relieved from manual processes, such as data entry and
working in multiple GUI's (graphical user interfaces), by giving them a fully automated
workspace.
(U//FOUO) CTIC project teams study specific issues, characterize gaps and shortfalls, imagine
possible solutions, and recommend mature commercial- and government-off-the-shelf (COTS,
GOTS) technologies for evaluation. Other projects, organized around themes like analytic
integration and customer interaction, are intended to lay the foundation for improvements in
collaboration techniques and higher-level analysis.
(U//FOUO) The "before" view...
"(U//FOUO) SIDtoday articles may not be republished or reposted outside NSANet
without the consent of S0121 (DL sid_comms)."
DYNAMIC PAGE -- HIGHEST POSSIBLE CLASSIFICATION IS
TOP SECRET // SI / TK // REL TO USA AUS CAN GBR NZL
DERIVED FROM: NSA/CSSM 1-52, DATED 08 JAN 2007 DECLASSIFY ON: 20320108
"(U//FOUO) SIDtoday articles may not be republished or reposted outside NSANet
without the consent of S0121 (DL sid_comms)."
DYNAMIC PAGE -- HIGHEST POSSIBLE CLASSIFICATION IS
TOP SECRET // SI / TK // REL TO USA AUS CAN GBR NZL
DERIVED FROM: NSA/CSSM 1-52, DATED 08 JAN 2007 DECLASSIFY ON: 20320108