Methods being explored to solve that problem span a wide gamut, from data-gathering techniques like voice and face recognition to data-analysis techniques like data mining and speech prosodic analysis. As part of a special report on "Intelligence & Technology" in the April issue of IEEE Spectrum, Contributing Editor Paul Wallich gives details on some of these techniques and estimates how close they are to deployment. As he notes in "Getting the Message," the sheer volume of data can hinder efforts at collection and analysis.
Prosodic analysis, for instance, analyzes speech not to recognize actual words but rather to highlight portions of a conversation in which a speaker is excited, trying to keep a secret, or even speaking in code phrases. The effort also includes initiatives like the U.S. government's controversial Total Information Awareness program, and the use of biometric techniques, such as gait recognition, to recognize specific individuals. High-tech anti-terrorist tools appear to be at the beginning of a lengthy development and procurement cycle comparable to that of major weapons.
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