THE PEACOCK REPORT (TPR)

TSA Seeks to Take 'Intelligent' Surveillance Technology to Next Level

The creation of next-generation "intelligent" surveillance systems capable of sensing group- and individual-behavioral changes could be deployed across U.S. airports and other transportation centers -- if the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) can indeed achieve such a capability. The agency's wish-list of new surveillance capabilities includes "micro-behavior detection," an outcome which TSA seeks to accomplish, for instance, via automated recognition of changes in facial expressions "that indicate stress and other anomalies," according to a procurement document that The Peacock Report has located. TSA's Office of Security Technology seeks to create additional micro-behavior detection capabilities such as the "detection and identification of nervous related actions" such as sweating and pacing, the document says.

The first step that TSA's "Intelligent Closed-Circuit Television" (ICCTV) project will take toward achieving this capacity is an assessment of commercially available "automated and semi-automated technology," according to a TSA Request for Information (RFI) dated Feb. 24.  Assessing and cataloging these technologies could be followed by subsequent contracting actions necessary to bring about "an easily-integrated 'system of systems,'" the RFI says:

It is envisioned that such a video system… could be part of an integrated approach to enhancing the security of the national transportation system in the United States by means of remote surveillance… The objective of this RFI is to solicit input from industry related to technologies with operational capabilities that enhance and automate or are capable of automating some of the remote surveillance processes and tools available to meet the TSA’s requirements.

The ICCTV system that TSA envisions likewise would be capable of "macro-behavior detection." Such capabilities would include "individual-level anomaly detection," enabling the agency to spot people "walking in the wrong direction" or simply loitering. That surveillance function would unfold concomitant with the automated or human "tracking or following of individuals within a facility" using multiple cameras, it said. Similarly, it hopes to deploy remote surveillance tools to agents in the field who could tap into this system.

TSA points out that it is carrying out its post-9/11 congressional mandate to deploy advanced technologies that modify and enhance the agency's airport-screening checkpoint capabilities and infrastructure. Such enhancements later could be employed in settings other than airports, according to the RFI:

Finding solutions that secure the aviation transportation mission is the primary focus for this RFI in the near term, but the TSA is interested in the eventual application of operationally effective and suitable security screening technologies for other transportation modes as well.

DARPA Explores Use of ICBMs for Surveillance Tech Deployment

The swift, global deployment of intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) equipment using non-lethal intercontinental ballistic missiles is one of the latest initiatives to come out of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). According to a Special Notice that The Peacock Report located via a routine search of the FedBizOpps database, the goal of the Rapid Eye program is to develop and "deliver a persistent ISR capability anywhere on the globe within one hour..."

While currently in the conceptual stage, DARPA envisions the creation of an intercontinental ballistic missile system to deliver what is known as a High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) unmanned aerial vehicle to geographic targets of interest. The agency on July 25 will meet with industry and scientific-community representatives to discuss the project. Booz Allen Hamilton, a consulting firm and military contractor, is hosting this "industry day" event at its Arlington, Va. offices.

State Dept. Outsourcing Intel Analysis of 'Negative Forces' In Africa

An affiliate of behemoth defense contractor L-3 is reaping the benefits of U.S.-led intelligence-gathering operations Africa, where the State Dept. is outsourcing segments of a multinational data-collection, analysis and dissemination operation. State intends to award a sole-source contract to Alexandria, Va.-based MPRI (formerly known as Military Professional Resources, Inc.) to train several African governments and the United Nations in the use of the Tripartite Fusion Cell (TFC) system. Based in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DROC), the purpose of TFC is to connect DROC, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, and the U.N. Mission in DROC via a satellite-linked communications network, thereby enabling participants to jointly obtain, share, analysis and distribute intelligence data used to combat rebel forces operating in the region.

According to a State planning document that The Peacock Report has obtained, the sole-source contract calls for MPRI to "mentor" officials from the U.N. and the above-mentioned nations on how to "fuse raw information into usable intelligence products to combat the Negative Forces operating in eastern DR[O]C with the intent of bring peace and stability to the region." MPRI under the arrangement will report to the U.S. MIssions in each of the four countries on the progress of the program. The value of the contract is undisclosed.

MPRI already has profited handsomely from the so-called "War on Terror" and from the invasion and occupation of Iraq, as a review of contracting documents since 2003 has shown. Previous and recently planned federal-contracting actions include:

The deployment of 98 "law enforcement personnel (LEP) to serve as investigators, planners, and analysts in support of designated US Army and Marine Corps units deploying to and operating in Iraq and Afghanistan," according to a U.S. Army Special Notice dated June 6. The Army anticipates releasing a more detailed synopsis of this endeavor Aug. 15, followed by a formal solicitation on or around Oct. 26.

A potential $200 million ceiling on a contract that DoD jointly awarded to MPR, Blackwater Lodge & Training, and Northrup Grumman for the Bush Administration's "Global Peace Operation Initiative," for which these companies would help train U.N. and other troops in peacekeeping operations.

A $5 million contract to provide soldier training at the Counterinsurgency Center for Excellence, Camp Taji, Iraq;

Another contract ceiling raise from $50-$75 million for the African Contingency Operations and Assistance (ACOTA) program;

A $41.8 million language translation and interpretation services contract;

A $2.6 million Iraqi Ministry of Defense training contract;

A $120 million, U.S. Dept. of Justice "worldwide support services contract to support the Criminal Division's International Criminal Investigations Training Assistance Program (ICITAP)";

A $48 million contract to provide basic training to the then-new Iraqi Army (June 2003).

DoD Boosts L-3 GWOT Contract By More Than Half-Billion

The Pentagon recently guaranteed defense contractor L-3 Communications an additional $600 million specific to providing logistical support to the U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), raising the ceiling on an existing contract from $1.5 billion to $2.1 billion. According to a Special Notice that The Peacock Report located during a routine search of the FedBizOpps database, USSOCOM is boosting the existing five-year contract because of the "unanticipated high level of support" for the so-called global war on terror (GWOT) stemming from "the events of September 11, 2001" and "USSOCOM's mission change based on those events," according to the document.

Pentagon Seeks Contractors for Media Analysis "Research"

The Dept. of Defense (DoD) is soliciting bids from private firms capable of providing U.S. military leadership with "media analysis" services, according to a contracting document that The Peacock Report recently located. The office of the Asst. Defense Secy. for Public Affairs intends to award a contract of unknown value to a firm that will scour the media "to gather data, assess the information, interpret the results, and write a variety of reports for senior leaders" at DoD. The selected contractor will perform the work at the Pentagon, the document said.

Twain Kept a' Rollin'

The War Prayer by Mark Twain is one of the most pivotal antiwar writings of the past century. In that short story, Twain used his satirical wit to lambast churches nationwide that were rallying around the flag in a lustfest for battle during the Filipino campaign of the Spanish-American War.

TPR founder Steve Peacock takes The War Prayer to his fellow Christian writers at TheMastersArtist.com, with whom he is affiliated. Check out Prayer Factor, and if you haven't yet become acquainted with Twain's The War Prayer, make sure your follow links within the article giving you free online access to that classic work of American literature.

Unhappy Mother's Day

The Peacock Report (TPR) expresses its condolences this Mother's Day Weekend to all the moms whom have lost a child serving as soldiers in the U.S. occupation of Iraq. TPR similarly expresses sympathy to Iraqi mothers whose children have died either through U.S.-led military action or via sectarian strife between Sunni and Shiite Muslims. As a husband and as the father of two little girls, TPR's Steve Peacock cannot imagine the horror of experiencing the loss of a child.

TPR consequently endorses the actions of CODE PINK Mothers for Peace and other antiwar activists who will invest their time this holiday weekend urging the Bush Administration and the Congress to end the U.S. occupation of Iraq immediately.

U.S. To Infuse Millions of Gallons of Oil Into Reserve By June

The U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) is expected to get an infusion of up to 88 million gallons of crude oil  in June, when the Dept. of Energy (DoE) seeks to receive the 4 million-barrel delivery via SPR ports in Texas and Louisiana, according to a Statement of Work that The Peacock Report has obtained. The purchase would bring the 727-million barrel-maximum SPR a notch closer to full capacity. It currently holds about 689.2 million barrels, according to DoE estimates. President Bush in his 2007 State of the Union speech proposed giving DoE the ability to more than double the SPR's maximum storage, specifically proposing to elevate that level to 1.5 billion barrels by 2027. The Bush Administration has rejected calls to sell some of the SPR oil stock to the consumer market to alleviate rising gas prices, wihch once again are topping $3 per gallon.

DoD Outsourcing Assessment of 'Human Screening' Methods

Private contractors soon will conduct "rapid human screening" experiments on behalf of the Dept. of Defense (DoD), which is recruiting outside firms to assess the viability of existing truth-detection techniques. The Defense Academy for Credibility Assessment (DACA), formerly known as DoD Polygraph Institute, will oversee this endeavor for the Pentagon's Counterintelligence Field Activity (CIFA) unit.

The newly named division is expanding its human-screening polygraph capabilities "to non-polygraph techniques for detecting deception," Secrecy News reported earlier this year. The recruitment of contractors to assess and report to DoD on existing methods for "rapid human screening" is the latest development in this area of counterintelligence and interrogation, according to a contracting document that The Peacock Report recently located via routine database research.

This two-phase project will involve a review of existing literature on techniques and technologies, as well as testing of such methods on "human participants," the document says:

The effort must specifically address instrumental and behavioral procedures that are applicable in multi-cultural (English and non-[E]nglish speaking) samples. An investigative priority shall be to identify and reduce factors contributing to assessment variability. The contractor shall develop and implement a research protocol, using established experimental procedures, to recruit, assign the credibility of, test the credibility of, and compensate human participants. The second task will be an optional task in which the contractor shall conduct validation studies to replicate and extend efforts from the first task.

DACA anticipates releasing a detailed, formal solicitation on this procurement on or around May 8.

Private Contractors to Bid on 'Hero Remains' Transport Project

The Pentagon is poised to outsource the air-transport of U.S. soldiers killed in combat, and is meeting with vendors April 24 to discuss potential contracting opportunities, according to U.S. Transportation Command procurement documents that The Peacock Report has located. The first contract for this "hero remains" delivery service is for an initial performance period of Aug.-Sept. 2007 -- with optional contracts projected to extend into the year 2010.

The initial award is limited to a two-month period because, as the document points out, "Funds are not presently available for performance under this contract beyond 30 Sep 07." Awards after that date currently are contingent upon whether Congress appropriates additional funds for these purposes, it says.

The selected vendor will be required to have a minimum of four jets on 24/7 standby at Dover Air Force Base (AFB) in Delaware, from where the aircraft will fly upwards of 360,000 miles monthly specifically to pick up the remains of soldiers and their assigned escorts and transport them to airports closer to the families of the deceased.

This arrangement is related to new procedures established under the FY2007 National Defense Appropriations Act, which mandates that "hero remains" be transported closer to the families of the dead than was allowed under previous policy. Similarly, the law calls for an honor guard to accompany the remains from the airport to the final resting place of the soldiers.