DARPA Demonstrates "Competition" Tool at Combatant Command DefenceTalk

Service members at U.S. Indo-Pacific Command headquarters in Hawaii recently tested a prototype DARPA system designed to help military analysts and planners determine if observed events – such as increased force movements, cyber intrusions, and civil unrest – are unconnected occurrences, or if they're part of an adversary's coordinated campaign to achieve strategic objectives in a geographic region. Operational representatives from the command's intelligence and operations divisions spent three days in December trying out DARPA's COMPASS tool suite. COMPASS, which stands for Collection and Monitoring via Planning for Active Situational Scenarios, analyzes large streams of data to uncover competition campaigns, and displays results that represent the evidence and the analysis behind each hypothesis. COMPASS seeks to leverage advanced AI and other technologies to help commanders make more effective decisions regarding a competitor's complex, multi-layered competition activity. Competition refers to actions – both non-violent and violent – designed to achieve geopolitical goals without provoking full-blown armed conflict.