Location: Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA
Website: www.issinc.com
Intelligence Software Solutions (ISS) is a company which uses data to “turn customers’ information overload into information advantage.” The company has clients ranging from Fortune-500 corporations to the military, and turns massive, disparate data sources into information which can be used to analyse events, detect patterns and plan missions. ISS works with the military, counter-IED, public safety and law enforcement communities across the world. Government departments including the US Department of Defense and the US Department of Homeland Security use its products.
For the basis of this map, the most relevant programme ISS operates is the Dfuze Intelligence Management Suite, the “world’s leading counter-terrorism database.” This database, which is used by over 30 countries, allows the storage and maintenance of data related to virtually any incident. Such incidents include IED and EOD incidents, and terrorism-related incidents. The purpose of the database is to “help those working in public safety navigate the post-9/11 security environment,” by capturing and analysing information.
A range of actors, including Intelligence Division Chiefs, Criminal Investigators, and Agency Command Staff, use the Dfuze software, which comes in different versions. The Dfuze: Incident Response solution is “a critical incident response management system…that allows public safety agencies to effectively identify, understand, and respond to complex, large-scale events, threats and hazards.” It gives real-time access to vital information as an incident unfolds so that field operators and decision makers have the most up-to-date information. The DfuzeDS: Data Integration solution allows decision-makers from across multiple, partnering agencies to integrate, share and review one another’s data, giving them the “big picture” of an incident and of public safety. Finally, the Dfuze360: Data Analysis and Visualisation solution “enables analysts and investigators to seamlessly convert crime data into intelligence.” The solution can be configured to connect to an internal or external data source, and then accesses the data without moving the source location or altering the design.
An example of the use of Dfuze to track the origins of weapons can be seen in its use by Conflict Armament Research. The organisation used Dfuze for its programme iTrace, which allowed operatives from several regions to input data, and for this data to be geo-referenced and put on an online map to be accessed by members of the public. ITrace tacks the dates, times, and routes of weapons transfers, including tracking their movement across borders. It includes information on the groups involved in transferring such weapons.
This profile is part of AOAV’s investigation into counter-IED (C-IED) actors around the globe. To see the list of all C-IED actors recorded by AOAV, see here. To see those engaged in the Middle East, the Sahel, North Africa or other highly impacted countries please see here, here, here, and here respectively. This research was made possible by funding from the NATO Counter Improvised Explosive Devices Centre of Excellence (C-IED COE). To read the full report, ‘Addressing the threat posed by IEDs: National, Regional and Global Initiatives’, see here.
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