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One of the biggest mysteries is the human brain. Scientists, psychologists, philosophers and even artists have tried to crack the code on the one organ that essentially creates the foundation for who we are and why we behave the way we do. And fully understanding the brain and how we process information can surely be beneficial for the Intelligence Community (IC). The is precisely what the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) was thinking when it contracted Raytheon BBN to explore modeling the brain’s ability to make sense of large amounts of haphazard, partial information. Ultimately, this research can help the IC analyze fast-moving battlefield video, audio and text data quickly and accurately.

According to UPI, the funding for the venture came from the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity, part of the Integrated Cognitive-Neuroscience Architectures for Understanding Sensemaking program, which is overseen by the ODNI.

Here’s a quote from the UPI story about this new program:

“BBN has a history of tackling tough challenges and producing transformative solutions that make us more secure,” said Rusty Bobrow, ICARUS principal investigator at Raytheon BBN Technologies. “IARPA’s ICARUS program explores groundbreaking approaches to ‘sense-making’ and will help maintain U.S. intelligence superiority.”

And by way of background on Raytheon BBN, the organization was originally called BBN Technologies and it built the first ever Internet nodes back in the 1960s – ultimately becoming the Internet as we know it today.

Clearly any organization that created the backbone of the Internet can tackle the mysterious frontier of the mind in ways that will benefit the IC and make our nation even more secure.

Tags: BBN Technologies, brain activity and the Intelligence Community, CIA, DARPA and the human brain, ODNI, Office of the Director of National Intelligenc, Raytheon BBN, Raytheon BBN and Human Brain