FBI experience helps prepare for life as private investigator

Before retiring to Charleston in 1990, Jeff Dossett spent 18 years with the FBI in Newark, N.J., working against organized crime.

He dealt with drugs and cartels and had to use his imagination to be one step ahead of crime. He worked across agencies on a variety of offenses and his experiences were as differing as the criminals he pursued. He says it was the perfect preparation for his job now as a private investigator.

Dossett, 66, now a Summerville resident, is senior partner at Charleston Investigative Associates in North Charleston. His experience throughout his 30-year career at the FBI, his three years in the Army and his Long Island University master's degree in criminal justice mean he's pretty much seen it all.

Now, he handles everything from interviewing people, running surveillance, courthouse searches or just plain old digging up information. Formed in 2001, Charleston Investigative Associates is an umbrella company that handles all types of cases and employs all former federal agents and former local law enforcement.

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Marriages keep city sleuths busy

Her marriage was fixed and everything from the groom, his family to their financial status seemed perfect for 21-year-old Simran (name changed). Even his profile on a matrimony portal was one of the most popular. But a last-minute check by a detective agency opened up a can of worms. Not only was the groom a divorcee but, in fact, had three children. Besides, he was an alcoholic the main reason why his wife walked out.

At a time when marriages are being decided over the internet and couples prefer to wait till they build a flashy career, the Association of Private Detectives Of India (APDI) has come up with startling facts for the city. 

According to Kunwar Vikram Singh, chairman APDI, there has been a phenomenal rise in the number of brides and grooms seeking to "cross-check one another's background'' before tying the knot. "There has been a 36% increase in the number of people going for pre-marital checks. Significantly, a huge 41% rise has been recorded in the post-marital queries. The average number of queries with individual agencies before marriage is around 60 per month, while post-marriage queries number around 45,'' said Singh.

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Private Investigator Finds Drug Abuse, Prostitution and More at Hedonisom Hotel

A private investigator and former FBI agent alleged he had seen open drug abuse, prostitution, distribution of marijuana and "numerous acts of lewd and lascivious behaviour" at John Issa's Hedonism hotel.

"Five independent, unwitting sources were developed by the investigator," said Attorney Reginald Clyne of Clyne and Associates, representing the defendants in a lawsuit filed in the Circuit Court of the 11th Judicial Circuit in and for Miami-Dade County, Florida, where Issa, the SuperClubs chairman, is claiming that he was defamed by e-mails traced to computers originating in that US state.

"These sources reported their observations of these activities to the investigator, corroborating, in detail, acts of prostitution, drug use and distribution and lewd behaviour," said Clyne.

The attorney presented the private eye's report as Issa gave a follow-up deposition in the ongoing lawsuit that began in January this year. He named the investigator as Larry Holifield who spent three
days watching activities at Hedonism, part of the SuperClubs hotel chain.

"The resort was staffed with uniformed security guards who were able to witness the wide open drug abuse and prostitution. The guards, however, took no action to prevent these illegal activities?" Clyne quoted the former Federal Bureau of Investigation agent as reporting.

"You wanted proof, you wanted a person, I will give it to you," said Clyne, responding to Issa's insistence throughout the deposition that he provided evidence to support his allegations.

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Ex Phone Worker Guilty in Hollywood Wiretap Case

A federal jury has convicted a former telephone company employee of three
counts of lying to the FBI and committing perjury before a grand jury and district court in connection with the wiretapping investigation of former private investigator Anthony Pellicano.

Joann Wiggan, 56, of Burbank, was found guilty yesterday afternoon of
committing perjury before a federal grand jury, lying to special agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and committing perjury during a previous criminal trial. The jury deliberated less than one hour before reaching its guilty verdicts.

During a week-long trial in United States District Court in Los Angeles, the jury heard that Wiggan repeatedly denied under oath having any contact with, or having retrieved any voicemail messages from, former SBC employee and Pellicano associate Ray Turner. Telephone records introduced into evidence, however, showed more than 125 calls from Turner to Wiggan's work voicemail account, 18 calls from Pellicano's office to that voicemail account, and more than 1,000 calls from Wiggan to that account during the time of the wiretapping conspiracy. In closing arguments, prosecutors said the evidence showed that Wiggan, a facilities technician with access to the mainframes
at all SBC offices in Los Angeles, had been the person physically connecting the illegal wiretaps at Turner's and Pellicano's direction.

Wiggan previously stood trial in 2006 on five counts of committing perjury before the grand jury. The jury in that 2006 case acquitted Wiggan of four counts, and a mistrial was declared on the fifth count. In yesterday’s verdicts, the jury convictedWiggan of the unresolved count from the first trial, as well as new charges of lying to the FBI in 2004 and committing perjury during her 2006 trial. Wiggan is scheduled to be sentenced by United States District Judge Dale S. Fischer on February 22. At sentencing, Wiggan faces a statutory maximum penalty of15 years in federal prison.

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Teacher Hires Private Investigator to Catch Lying Parents

A HARPENDEN headteacher revealed he hired a private investigator to catch parents cheating the school admissions system and admitted he continues to spy on the families of prospective pupils.
Norman Hoare, headteacher at St George's School in Sun Lane, admitted using the extreme measure to prevent parents lying to get their children into his school.

It was first brought to the Review's attention that Mr Hoare had been spying on prospective parents, who he suspected of by-passing the entry criteria by renting property in the town, in 2007.
But Mr Hoare admitted to the Review today that he continues to snoop on doubtful parents by visiting the addresses supplied to confirm whether an application is genuine.

On occasions, Mr Hoare said he and his deputy have sat in a car inconspicuously waiting outside the suspected addresses at key times of the day to check for activity.

He said: "When I have done it on the rare occasion we are looking for the nature or kind of accommodation that the applicant is living in. Is it a one-bedroom flat? Are the lights on? Is it occupied in the morning? You have to give yourself confirmation that people are actually there.

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Private Investigator Searches for Answers 38 Years LAter

Each year, thousands of children and young adults vanish without a trace. For families searching for their missing loved ones, it can become a costly and emotionally overwhelming pursuit. That's where private investigator Tom Shamshak comes in.

For the past 10 years, Shamshak, 59, a retired police chief from Winthrop, Mass., has worked pro bono to help families track down their missing loved ones. He also works as program director of the Certificate in Professional Investigation program at Boston University, where students are trained over six months to become private investigators.

"At this point in my career, it's about giving back," he said. "I think it's the right thing to do."

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Oprah Challenges Taconic Crash Investigator on Show

Oprah Winfrey devoted her show yesterday to the Taconic Parkway tragedy, challenging an investigator's insistence that the driver of the doomed minivan was drug and alcohol free at the time of the crash that killed eight people.

Three months ago, Diane Schuler drove her minivan full of kids into oncoming traffic, killing herself, her daughter, three nieces and the three occupants of the car she hit.  A toxicology report found that Schuler had significant levels of marijuana and more than double the legal limit of alcohol in her system at the time of the crash -- a finding her husband has vehemently denied.

Daniel Schuler is so convinced of his wife's innocence that he hired a private investigator to find out what really happened that July day.

Appearing on the Oprah Winfrey Show via Skype, investigator Tom Ruskin insisted Schuler was not an alcoholic.

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Price Albert Regrets Not Paying Private Investigation Bills

If you hire a private investigator to uncover all the dirt that can be found on you, it would be wise to pay your bills to him. So discovered Prince Albert II of Monaco this week.

Prince Albert (a.k.a. Albert Alexandre Louis Pierre Grimaldi) hired California resident Robert Eringer to be his intelligence advisor in 2002. The prince paid the former FBI operative hundreds of thousands of dollars to investigate individuals of concern, scandals, and any thing that threatened the prince’s image.
Then in 2006, the prince fired Eringer.

Eringer feels he’s still owed money by the prince, so he has sued him in California. In his breach of contract suit, he reveals all of the dirt and secrets that he spent four years collecting.

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Witness Scared Off, Defense Under Investigation

A San Francisco defense attorney - already under fire for orchestrating an incident in which alleged gang members stood in court as a witness testified against their friend - is at the center of what a judge called a "reprehensible" attempt to keep a victim of an attempted murder from testifying.

San Francisco police say a private investigator working with defense attorney Eric Safire repeatedly called Ladarius Greer, 21, the victim in the attempted murder case against Safire's client Phil Pitney, 19. Greer has now vanished, and the trial started Tuesday without him.

Safire denied knowing about any effort to prevent Greer from taking the stand.

Pitney, who prosecutors say is a member of the Eddy Rock gang in the Western Addition, is accused of shooting Greer in the head at Fillmore and McAllister streets on April 12. He is charged with attempted murder with a gang enhancement.

In one cell phone message that Greer provided to police before he vanished this month, private investigator Steve Vender told Greer that he was being sought in a warrant out of Solano County and would be arrested if he showed up in court in the Pitney case.

Vender then suggested that if Greer didn't testify, prosecutors would be forced to drop and refile the charges. He indicated that a critical date for the case was Oct. 13.

"OK, so it's October and it's a good time to visit the Fresno Riviera ... and stay well," Vender said in the message, a transcript of which was introduced in court.

Police said in reports given to the prosecution that the call had been made from Safire's law office.

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Dictionary of DNA and Genome Technology Now Available

Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c91722) has announced the addition of "Dictionary of DNA and Genome Technology" to their offering.

DNA technology has a vital role in diverse fields such as criminal investigation and gene therapy - dynamic areas involving many specialized terms and techniques. This unique dictionary offers current, detailed, accessible information to lecturers, researchers, students and technicians throughout the biomedical sciences. This title features more up-to-date than existing textbooks in many aspects of DNA technology - with over 1,000 references from mainstream journals. It provides clear explanations of terms, techniques, and tests, including commercial systems, with detailed coverage of many important procedures and methods. It explains not only well-established methodology but includes new technology and data from the latest research journals, going well beyond the remit of most science dictionaries. It contains essay-style entries on many major topics to assist newcomers to the field. It covers topics relevant to medicine (diagnosis and gene therapy); veterinary science; biotechnology; biochemistry; pharmaceutical science/drug development; molecular biology...


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A Day in the Life of a Private Investigator

 He's the guy in the background you never notice, always the "man standing behind the man."
Well, not anymore. With the news that private investigators located the body of Kate Waring, private investigators are right up front.

"You can't solve crimes if you can't get the information," said James Randolph of Randolph and Habersham Investigations. It appears Randolph and Tommy Blackwood can get the information.

Randolph's company helped lead police to Waring's body. So, what is a typical day like for these guys? "It's exciting, it's exciting - it really is," said investigator Blackwood.

That said, don't think they have stake-outs in disguised vans full of hi-tech equipment. "Those type of scenarios are pretty nil, most often you won't see a white van," said Blackwood.

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Bellevue private investigator accused of ripoffs

The family of a Lynnwood woman who was killed three years ago says they have been preyed upon by a private investigator.

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New Products for DNA Analysis, Digital Imaging and More

New Products for DNA Analysis, Digital Imaging, Fighting Contamination, and More

PCR Buffer
The EzWay Direct PCR Buffer contains key additives that overcome the inhibitory effects in whole blood and commonly used blood anticoagulants. Compatible with most thermostable DNA polymerases, there is no pretreatment step or modification of your current PCR protocol necessary. EzWay Direct PCR Buffer eliminates risks of sample loss and is a cost effective alternative to DNA purification.
Komabiotech, www.komabiotech.com


Analysis of DNA Mixtures
A DNA Mixture analysis module has recently been added to the GeneMarkerHID Human Identity software. The software automatically identifies potential mixtures based upon specific parameters including number of alleles per marker and peak area or height ratios. The mixture analysis function is all combined in one user-friendly interface, eliminating the mistake-prone tedium of data transfer.
SoftGenetics, www.softgenetics.com


Digital Imaging for Forensic Investigations
The MacroVIEW D — composed of a touch screen computer, a fixed camera, and a mobile camera — is designed to capture and store digital images of bodies examined at autopsy or during forensic investigations. Users select from shape drawing tools, editable text tags, voice comments, and video files to annotate case images. Files are automatically collected and organized into case folders.
Milestone, www.milestonemed.com


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Lawyer Sues Sheriff's Office, Private Investigation Continues

More than 48 hours after a missing woman's body is found a new development in the case. A spokesperson for her family, local attorney Andy Savage is suing the Charleston County Sheriff's Office.

Savage announced late on Monday that he is suing Charleston County Sheriff Al Cannon and his department. Savage says one of his private investigators found the body of Katherine Waring on Wadamalaw Island this weekend.

We spoke with Savage this weekend, before the lawsuit and he was already critical of the police department.

"It's hard to swallow arrogance, as a citizen of this community. I don't think my investigators who solved the case were handled decently by the Charleston Police Department," Savage said.

He is suing for unspecified damages, the return of notes and other items taken from the private investigator  including his car.  The case goes to court on Tuesday. Meanwhile there are still more questions than answers in the case of Katherine Waring.

The Charleston Police Department are calling the case a death investigation and not a homicide investigation. Four months of agony ended Saturday for Laura Waring, her cousin. Kate Waring's skeleton was located in the Polly Pointe Subdivision on Wadmalaw Island She had been missing from Downtown Charleston since June 12.

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Newspapers Allowed to Hire Private Investigators

Philadelphia Newspapers L.L.C. can use a private investigator to look into security breaches, including the leak of an internal planning document to the committee representing the firm's unsecured creditors, a federal bankruptcy judge ruled yesterday.

Chief Bankruptcy Judge Stephen Raslavich agreed that the company could spend up to $25,000 to use SafirRosetti, a security firm, to investigate the leak and review the overall integrity of the company's protection of internal documents.

Anne Aaronson, the company's attorney, told Raslavich that SafirRosetti had already launched its investigation and had identified the employee responsible for the leak. She told reporters later that the company was still weighing what disciplinary action might be taken. She did not identify the employee.

The company sought permission to hire SafirRosetti after the Committee of Unsecured Creditors asked Raslavich to order the company to end its "Keep It Local!" campaign.

In its motion opposing the campaign, the unsecured creditors included a copy of an internal company planning document that outlined how the campaign would unfold.

The Committee of Unsecured Creditors opposed the company's request, arguing it represented an unneeded expense. If asked, committee attorney Ben Logan said, the committee would have said how it had gotten the planning document.

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Team of 40 Private Investigators Bust Illegal Weapon Sales at Gun Shows

An undercover investigation funded by the City of New York found weapons were sold illegally at seven gun shows in three states — including at Bill Goodman’s Gun and Knife Show at Hara Arena — Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced Wednesday, Oct. 7.

“The gun show loophole is a deadly serious problem — and this undercover operation exposes just how pervasive and serious it is,” Bloomberg said. “This is an issue that has nothing to do with the Second Amendment; it’s about keeping guns from criminals, plain and simple.”

The investigation was done by a team of 40 private investigators, who went to gun shows in Ohio, Tennessee and Nevada from May through August. Three of those shows were Bill Goodman’s: at Hara, in Sharonville and in Nashville.

Karen Wampler, spokeswoman for Hara Arena, suggested the Dayton Daily News call Dave Goodman, who runs the gun show. Goodman could not be reached for comment Wednesday morning.
“We rent to Dave Goodman’s Gun and Knife Show and have for many years,” Wampler said. “He has been very good about following the rules of the state of Ohio, from our perspective.”
The report generated by the investigation, Gun Show Undercover, is available on the city’s website, at http://www.nyc.gov/gunshow. Bloomberg said the city would be sending it to every member of Congress, and urged Congress to pass legislation closing the “gun-show loophole,” which gun control proponents say allows people to buy guns without a background check at the shows.

The National Rifle Association has long said there is no such thing as a “gun-show loophole” and that new legislation would be pointless, as most people who sell guns at the shows are licensed dealers, who are already required to do background checks.

The investigators went to the shows to see whether sellers would engage in two types of illegal transactions. The first involvesprivate sellers selling guns to people who they thought could not pass a federal background check. The investigators would offer to purchase a weapon, then tell the seller that they probably couldn’t pass a background check.

The second involves licensed dealers conducting illegal straw sales, which are sales made to accomplices posing as buyers in order to help the real buyer avoid a criminal background check. In those cases, a maleinvestigator played the role of a person who wanted to buy a gun but couldn’t, and a female investigator played the role of the “straw” buyer who would purchase it for him.

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L.A. investigator pleads no contest to conspiracy in payoff of alleged rape victim

A private investigator who has worked for such high-profile criminal defendants as Michael Jackson and Winona Ryder pleaded no contest today to conspiracy to obstruct justice and bribery in connection with the payoff of an alleged rape victim, a spokeswoman for the L.A. County district attorney's office said.

Bradley G. Miller entered the open plea to one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice and three counts of bribing a witness in the courtroom of L.A. County Superior Court Judge Lance A. Ito, court spokeswoman
Jane Robison said. The plea came during a pretrial hearing.

The charges stem from Miller's work for Alex Izquierdo, who was charged in 2006 with multiple counts of rape, torture, false imprisonment and other crimes for allegedly abusing his live-in girlfriend. She told police he had burned her with an iron, sodomized her and threatened to kill her.


Miller and two other men are accused of conspiring to take the woman to Las Vegas on the day in 2005 that she was to testify against Izquierdo, who faces life in prison if convicted.

"Mr. Miller wants to put this behind him," said Miller's attorney, Mark Wersksman. "This will allow him to get on with his life."

Attorney Mark Geragos, who represented Izquierdo, is not accused of involvement in the alleged conspiracy. Izquierdo's father, George Izquierdo, and Camilo Valentin were charged along with Miller in the bribery case, prosecutors said.

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School Mistakes Private Detectives as Police

JEFFERSON COUNTY - Sheriff's deputies say private investigators wearing discount store hats reading "CSI" had school staff convinced they were dealing with actual law enforcement officers.

The investigators-for-hire were looking for a missing child involved in a civil custody case. They say Shaffer Elementary School principal Gina Rivas was eager to help and never asked for identification.
"We told them right up front we were private investigators," said private eye John Sampson. "We never said we were police."

A custom-made badge on his belt and his CSI hat seemed to satisfy the principal, said Sampson, who owns CSI Consulting and Investigations.

Over the next few hours, Rivas would volunteer the name of a student she felt resembled the one on Sampson's missing child flyer, provide information about the girl and her family, and interview the girl about the custody case, said Sampson.

The student, 8-year-old Lilly Findley, had no connection to the missing child case. Sampson said the school did not call sheriff's deputies or the girl's parents until he insisted law enforcement get involved in the discussion.

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Canadian Reality TV Star's Family Hires Private Investigator to Clear Name

The family of a Canadian reality-TV performer accused of the sensational murder of his ex-wife has hired a private investigator in California in an attempt to dig up information that might clear the late Ryan Jenkins of the crime.
Jenkins' family is holding a private, invitation-only ceremony in Calgary on Thursday to commemorate the man who was the subject of an international manhunt -- and international media coverage -- after he was named the sole suspect in the strangling and mutilation of Jasmine Fiore before he fled to British Columbia.

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20 Year Old Case of Murdered Private Detective Starts Monday

THE murder trial of a private detective killed in one of Britain's most controversial unsolved cases is due to start this Monday.

Five people are due to stand trial at the Old Bailey in connection with killing of 37-year-old Daniel Morgan who was found dead with a hatchet buried in his head in the Golden Lion pub in Sydenham in March 1987.

Ex-Scotland Yard detective Sid Fillery, 61, is charged with perverting the course of justice.

James Cook, 53, of The Glade, Kingswood, Tadworth, Surrey, Garry Vian, 47, of no fixed abode, his brother Glenn Vian, 49, of 94 Orchard Road, South Croydon and Jonathon Rees, 53, of Village Close, Weybridge, Surrey are all charged with murder.

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Background Check Leads to Arrest in a 1976 Killing

It's the unexpected break investigators were hoping for. After 33-years on the run, a suspect in the disappearance of a Kirkwood woman is finally in custody in Georgia.

Authorities said the suspect, 65-year-old Johnny Wright, accidentally alerted them to his outstanding murder warrant when he asked for a background check for a new job. Police in Lawrenceville, Georgia do not think Wright realized what he was doing when he asked for that background check. They said he paid $15 to get arrested for the murder of Becky Doisy.

Doisy disappeared back in August of 1976. She was a Kirkwood native, granddaughter of a Nobel Prize-winning biochemist, and a waitress at Ernie's Steak House in Columbia. Years of searching turned up no sign of her.

"We do feel that she's been murdered," said Harriett Doisy, on the anniversary of her daughter's disappearance in 1977.

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Mafia Engages in Cyber Crime

As if CSOs don't have enough on their plates, they now need to beat back made men, capos and the other elements of the Mafia. Yes, the Mafia is formally involved in cybercrime, or so alleges the U.S. attorney for Florida, who filed charges against associates of the Bonanno crime family that included pilfering data from Lexis-Nexis.

The Mafia engaging in cybercrime might sound like your grandmother joining Facebook. In fact, "the majority of data breaches are the result of organized crime," says Nick Holland, an analyst at Aite Group in Boston. That doesn't mean it's the conventional Mafia pulling the strings--though it can be. In fact, it's hard to tell just who is in control sometimes. For the most part, cybergroups that become notorious, like the Rockfish or the old Russian Business Network, do so because very few cybercrime groups publicize themselves, says Steve Santorelli of Team Cymru. (Cymru, pronounced cumri, is the Welsh word for Wales.)
In fact, observers sometimes disagree on just who's behind a crime. Take last year's RBS Worldpay scam, which saw hackers not only make off with 1.5 million records from the electronic payments processor, but make fake ATM cards used to withdraw more than $9 million in 49 cities around the world in a one-hour period. Frank Heidt, CEO of Leviathan Security in Seattle, thinks this was a case of an extremely well-organized group with roots in Russian organized crime. Peter Cassidy, director of research at Triarche Consulting Group in Cambridge, Mass., says it looks like a franchise-style operation in which the data and details on how and when to use it was sold to groups operating in different regions.

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Reasons why Internet Private Investigation is Taking Over the Online World

Why are internet private investigation services important now? It is because more and more people are putting all their information on the Internet.

People do not want to be left out of the modernization that is happening in the world today. So to become in tune with technology, they eagerly embraced the online world.

To be one with the online world, your information is needed so that it would be easy for other people to find you. Oftentimes, when conducting business online, you give out details that should have been kept private. When this happens, you are very much prone to those that can easily intercept all the information even before they reach the intended destination.

Before you know it, another person has gotten hold of your credit card and is using them for their own personal purpose. The worst thing that could happen is when your identity is stolen just because that person knows everything about you.

In answer to all these online crimes, Internet private investigation services opened their doors to counter wrong doers. These investigators have comprehensive knowledge about what people are capable of doing using the internet. Using every means of internet software and tools, they can track down illegal procedures immediately.

You can tell how effective these investigators are by the number of crimes and criminals that they have cornered on the internet. You may think that programs or other tools are the ones capturing these persons. What you may not know is that there are real people behind who is doing the job for you.

Most online businesses enlist the services of private investigators online to filter out the good from the bad. These businesses know that they are vulnerable to persons that want to take advantage of what they have. Since they cannot prevent people from accessing them online, the only way they can prevent unwanted things from happening is to have investigators check every detail about the online visitors.

One of the useful things that private investigators use in their internet service is computer forensics and public records available in online databases for general public. This is not like the forensics that is being done physically.

Expert technicians are the persons capable of looking out at computers. They look at the sources of documents and data storage systems. They make sure that the systems remain clean of hackers or unwanted and suspicious entries.

It is also their duty to track down where unwanted entries are coming from. When they have carefully investigated all the details, they report their findings directly to their clients. It is during this time that the business is able to figure out ways on how to solve these problems, change their system and bring the intruder to justice.

Internet private investigators are not only limited to crimes that are going around the internet. They do simple things like recovering of files. They are trained well in this field also. Part of their job is to maintain the smooth sailing operation of the online business.

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Security System Brings Big Brother to Life

Researchers are looking to develop an intelligent image system that can monitor large areas, perhaps miles wide,  identify potential threats based on the correlation of events and anomalies it detects, and issue timely alerts with few false alarms. 
Such a surveillance system is at the heart of what researchers at the  Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency calls a Persistent Stare Exploitation and Analysis System (PerSEAS) that can automatically and interactively discover intelligence from optical or infra-red devices in the air on drones, for example, or spread over urban, suburban, and rural environments.
DARPA said it envisions two major applications for such a system.  Perhaps most important,  the first would use the system in a near real-time mode to receive alerts and warnings to react to and avert disasters. For example, if it notices a number of activities that were out of the usual, such as the gathering of lots of soldiers and trucks it could alert local authorities.
The second would be to use the data gathered from the system to use archived data from the system to analyze events, such as an attack to determine the movements and origins of the entities involved in the event, DARPA said.   For both types of applications DARPA said the PerSEAS system ideally could receive or generate cues from/to other sensor systems to identify places or people of interest for additional details.
Overall the challenge is to identify potential threats based on the accumulation and correlation of multiple events and anomalies, and issue alerts so military folks in the field can take quick action or other officials can alert the public of problems, DARPA said.
Specifically the PerSEAS system will gather data from sensors and feed the data into an intelligent software engine supporting algorithms that discover relationships and anomalies that are indicative of suspicious behavior, match previously learned threat activity, or match user defined threat activity should also be incorporated, DARPA stated.

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Obama Stands Behind ‘State Secrets’ in Spy Case

SAN FRANCISCO – Hours after the Justice Department announced it would limit its use of the state secrets privilege in new cases, the administration appeared before a federal judge here Wednesday and continued to invoke that defense in a closely watched spy case.

The litigation at issue, now five years old, tests whether a sitting president may bypass Congress and adopt a warrantless surveillance program, as President Bush did in the wake of the 2001 terror attacks.

“We need to protect information concerning the manner and methods by which we seek to detect and prevent a terrorist attack,” Justice Department special counsel Anthony Coppolino said Wednesday while arguing to a federal judge to dismiss the case on the basis of state secrets.

The 5-year-old case, having a tortured procedural history, is the furthest along in challenging the Bush administration’s warrantless Terror Surveillance Program.

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