WELCOME TO THE SECURITY RESEARCH HUB!

Welcome to the Security Research Hub!

 

FIU’s Jack D. Gordon Institute for Public Policy is proud to announce the launch of the Security Research Hub!

 

Florida International University (FIU), in partnership with MITRE Corporation, has created a new secure, virtual collaborative research hub that will enable U.S Southern Command, and other U.S. and Partner Nation government/non-government organizations to collaborate using vast amounts of publicly available data on a wide range of security-related topics.

 

Context for the SRH Creation

With the advent of big data and widespread internet connectivity, open-source intelligence (OSINT) is arriving as a force. The Western Hemisphere has over 800 million people connected to the internet and approaches 80% internet penetration. In communities that pertain to national security, it is safe to say that internet penetration approaches 100%. This provides a unique opportunity for national security specialists throughout the Western Hemisphere to take advantage of our strong partnerships founded on shared democratic values to band together to perform open source research on topics that are common to and important to all including transnational organized crime (TOC), external state actors (such as the PRC and Russia), violent extremist organizations (VEOs), immigration, natural disasters, political instability, global and regional health concerns (e.g. pandemic influenza, COVID-19), and vulnerabilities of strategic support facilities/structures (e.g. Panama Canal). Contact with new sources of data in the hemisphere will also allow insight into the potential for democratic backsliding or movements towards authoritarianism.

 

Open-source research leverages data from publicly available sources (such as television, radio, newspapers, commercial databases, internet, and social media) and privately held proprietary data that has been made accessible to the research platform to create synthesized products in response to important research questions and events. Open-source research increasingly requires a set of skills and experience using creative methodology and autonomous publicly available tools to gather and deliver accurate, real-time information that helps interested parties anticipate emerging issues. With over 4.3 billion internet users in 2019, large data analytics and online investigative research has become progressively more challenging. Expectedly, as governments, regional entities, nongovernmental organizations, and private firms understand the implications associated with the open-source environment, the value of the global open-source intelligence market is expected to grow by 24% reaching USD 25,900,000 by 2026.

 

 

Objectives

The Security Research Hub (SRH) is designed to meet modern challenges by collaborating with experienced data experts, intelligence analysts, and cyber professionals and providing junior analysts work experience in a prominent sector of intelligence.

 

The Security Research Hub has 5 strategic objectives it aims to fulfill:

• Establish a secure, virtual technology platform that facilitates information sharing
• Foster analytic exchanges between U.S. and Latin America stakeholders
• Create a shared understanding of critical security challenges facing Latin America
• Enhance U.S. and Latin American research and analytic capacities
• Cultivate future U.S. and Latin American national security workforces

 

 

Capabilities

The Security Research Hub is still under development but aims to is working towards the following embedded capabilities:

 

• Research and Data Collection: The platform will have tools to collect, accept, and house data (open source, proprietary data contributed by partners, and subscription data) to support analysis. Data includes, but is not limited to, academic journals, relevant data sets, online publications, social media, etc.

 

• Communications and Collaboration: The platform includes the capability for analysts and researchers to communicate and collaborate on important security themes.

 

• Data Analytic Tools: The platform will include suite of analytic tools to help analysts and researchers parse through data, scrape online content, and render analytic outputs.

 

• Finished Analytic Production: The platform will provide the capability to disseminate finished production and other content ready for consumption by the public or by selectable partners within the platform.

 

• Training and Education: The platform integrates virtual training and educational opportunities (endorsed by FIU) to enhance members’ abilities to conduct research and analysis, work with data, secure systems, among other needed competencies.

 

The goal for the Security Research Hub is to facilitate and encourage collaboration, community, and information collection in order to address the most pressing issues in the Western Hemisphere. We hope that in creating a platform that allows individuals across the security environment to work collaboratively, to learn dynamically, and to research effectively we can move towards a more unified and strategic approach to tackling the issues we face today.

 

We look forward to your participation in and the growth of the Security Research Hub!