At this time each year, the CINA Center (and most of our DHS COE colleagues) are busy kicking off new research projects identified in the prior program year and approved over the summer. For CINA, we had a very strong pool of potential projects and selected a number of them for funding; we have 23 active projects as of this writing with more in the queue. Our current portfolio covers a remarkable range of topics and problems, ranging from the tactical to the theoretical, and including data analysis and modeling, network discovery, advances in digital and traditional forensics tools and techniques, and training to help keep investigators ahead of the criminals. These ongoing research efforts reflect the ideas and challenges our DHS stakeholders have so generously shared with us, the projects are being led and executed by academic researchers who are all at the top of their respective fields, and the products of these projects will be transitioned to DHS and the larger community where the impact can be real and positive.
If you would like to learn more about these projects, and if you are a DHS or USG employee or contractor, you are invited to attend the CINA Annual Meeting on Wednesday, October 12, 2022, on the GMU campus in Fairfax, Virginia. If you are not able to attend, we will soon be posting project summaries on our website, and we are happy to answer questions and provide additional information.
I will close with a thank you and an ask; thank you to all of you in DHS, USG, and beyond, who have taken the time and energy to share your challenges, problems, and context with us. These conversations and the understanding are the lifeblood of our research portfolio – without it we are just guessing, but with it we are working on problems and solutions that matter. The ask is to keep it coming, and to let us know what is useful and what isn’t. We will continue to listen, to fix things and adjust course when needed, and to work the challenges diligently – success usually comes incrementally, but only when we keep after it.