The following post was written by one of Praescient’s Advanced Analysis Fellows, a former marine biologist who is working with the Initiatives Group, and articulates how traditional research and analysis techniques can be (and ought to be) applied across disciplines to support special projects. The Initiatives Group is a collective of thought-leaders, subject matter experts,… Read more »
The U.S. Special Operations Command’s (SOCOM) initiative to embed special operations teams in contested villages across Afghanistan is proving to be one of the most effective engagement methods currently employed in theater. Village Stability Operations (VSO) place highly trained Special Operations Forces (SOF) units in rural villages to live and work amongst the villagers and… Read more »
In 2008, the United States imposed strict sanctions on Iran’s principle international shipping organization, the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL), due to its involvement in weapons trafficking. To circumvent these sanctions, IRISL developed a complex corporate shell structure around its ships to mask its shipping activities. Despite the best efforts of the U.S…. Read more »
Team Praescient seeks to empower analysts, policy-makers, and senior leaders with the latest analytic tools and methodologies. The following demo presents analysis conducted by the American Enterprise Institute’s (AEI) Critical Threats Project (CTP), and leverages the power of Palantir to examine networks associated with the Iranian Regime. On October 11, 2011, the United States Department… Read more »
For millennia our data has existed much in the same manner, two dimensionally. Certainly, over time we have found better ways to display, sort, and interact with information, but it nonetheless has always existed external to our world. For example, an individual picks up a newspaper and reads about the event that occurred near his/her… Read more »
Praescient was founded by a group of former military officers, software engineers, and entrepreneurs with a common passion for analysis. Many of us have deployed to combat zones, others have fought corruption from the halls of academia, and still others have made their mark across the hills of Hollywood. As a team, we value a… Read more »
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a non-partisan think tank based in DC, recently published a report entitled, Syria’s Armed Opposition, an in-depth look at the rebel movement in Syria that began last June. Author Joseph Holliday, Senior Analyst at ISW, provides solid analysis on the structure and capabilities of the insurgency, but… Read more »
Many organizations, with varying mission sets and strategic objectives, face the challenge of optimizing the use of large data sets. Data is information, and information is power (as the saying goes). However, having possession and control of a database, most likely compiled from disparate sources, does not lead easily to the efficient use and effective… Read more »
Systems theory predominantly refers to the interdisciplinary field of studying the interconnection of complex systems and their interdependent parts. Theorists and practitioners alike analyze the principles common to all complex systems, such as physiology and biology, and the models which can be used to describe them. This theoretical framework has been applied successfully to develop… Read more »
This month, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, known as FinCEN proposed new regulation mandating additional due diligence obligations on the financial sector that would; (i) codify, clarify, consolidate, and strengthen existing CDD regulatory requirements and supervisory expectations, and (ii) establish a categorical requirement for financial institutions to identify beneficial ownership… Read more »