As the controversy over the National Security Agency's secret surveillance programs continues, the U.S. Army is looking for ways to enhance its own intelligence gathering.
The Army's Project Director Technology Applications Office last month issued a request for information, known as an RFI,
seeking ideas from potential contractors about how to develop programs for gathering and using massive amounts of data, reports The Washington Post.
"Many of the technology initiatives [the Army is seeking] seem [to be] pushing the envelope," a former intelligence official told the newspaper about the four-page RFI, which is reportedly titled "Support for a multi-touch, common operation picture able to present time-synchronized, multi-source intelligence data products, including full motion video, on a three dimensional map."
The goal is apparently to boost intelligence operations both domestically and internationally.
Other services being sought include a "speaker and language ID application on a mobile computing device" and "a customized computer formula that can pull together massive amounts of identification data in older and specialized government systems so it can be tagged, stored and available for extraction," according to the Post.
The quest for hi-tech specialists comes as Congress races to pass a defense bill before funds run out on Jan. 1.
A bipartisan group of lawmakers met last week to draft a
defense authorization bill that includes $527 billion in base funding and $80 billion for the war in Afghanistan, reports Defense News. It also includes dozens of amendments addressing everything from sexual assault to building a new generation of nuclear aircraft carriers and a long-range bombers.
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