DHS Centers of Excellence (COE) represent a unique partnership between academia and the Homeland Security Enterprise (HSE). The cornerstone of this partnership is innovation and evolution, with the COEs assisting the HSE as it is trying to take full advantage of emerging opportunities, and to catch up with evolving challenges. The operational space of our CINA COE, that of criminal investigations and network analysis, exemplifies the need for such a partnership. Today, federal investigators are challenged more than ever by networked criminal activities that pose critical and evolving challenges to the rule of law and national security, as the same technological and networking breakthroughs that are advancing our societies are also providing a fertile infrastructure for worldwide illicit activities. Our CINA Center is harnessing university-based innovation, workforce development, and outreach programs to help the HSE navigate through these evolving challenges. In this second annual activities report, we present some highlights from the last 12 months. In terms of research, this was a year of evolution for CINA. Our research portfolio grew in two stages. First, it expanded as a result of our inaugural Request for Proposals (RFP) competition that saw nearly 50 submissions from leading institutions nationwide, from which we selected 5 new projects to fund, addressing issues like opioids, cryptocurrency, illicit markets in the dark web, and hotspots of criminal activity (pages 8-9). Then, addressing a specific operational need, CINA researchers collaborated with groups from two fellow COEs to form a multi-site team that pursues the derivation of actionable knowledge for gang activities from open-source content (page 10). Workforce development activities expanded the number of sponsored students, including more intern placements across DHS components. This year also saw the inaugural CINA Summer Week in Fairfax; we welcomed students and professors from Minority Serving Institutions (MSI) for a weeklong immersive experience which complemented our two MSI summer-long research opportunities. This past year, communications and outreach activities reached hundreds of stakeholders with the introduction of our CINA Distinguished Speaker Series and its corresponding digital archive (page 17), sponsorship of two large scale events on opioids and investigations (page 18), and the organization of another very successful COE Summit (page 19). The activities showcased in this report illustrate how university-based innovation and student focused programming have a decisive impact on the Homeland Security Enterprise. Whether you are in government, industry, academia or the non-profit sector, we value our collaborators and look forward to exploring new partnership opportunities.
