Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) technologies are revolutionizing national security by their ability to quickly identify critical information from vast data sets, enabling law enforcement and intelligence agencies to find the “needle in the haystack” and stay ahead of threats, according to FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate.
During GDIT Emerge on Sept. 12, Abbate emphasized that the surge in data – and the requirement to derive meaning from it – is a major and escalating challenge not only for the FBI but for every organization, whether in business or government.
“It’s especially urgent for us, because within all that is the information we need to stop the threat, to protect people. So, we are using technology in basic ways and looking at how we can use advanced and emerging technologies, including AI, to refine data, triage data, prioritize data, and find that ‘needle in the haystack’ that we need,” Abbate said.
He pointed to the FBI’s National Threat Operations Center in West Virginia – the public call line for the FBI – as a key example. With such a high volume of information, prioritizing threats becomes challenging. According to Abbate, to date the average number of calls and emails coming in daily range between four or five thousand.
“We’re looking for … those that pose a threat to life or people’s physical safety,” Abbate said. “That’s hard when you have that volume coming in every day with the limited resources that we have.”
To manage this, the FBI is leveraging emerging technology, including AI, to enhance its efficiency.
“We are using technology to scan the data in advance through keywords and other mechanisms to highlight those that may contain the type of threat to life information that we want to focus on first and foremost,” he said. This approach, he added, allows the FBI to “quickly identify and prioritize critical threats” and expedite action through their field offices.
In addition to highlighting the role of advanced technology in managing data, Abbate applauded the renewal of Section 702, underscoring its continued importance as a crucial tool for the FBI in investigating and addressing national security threats.
Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act allows U.S. intelligence agencies, like the FBI, to collect foreign intelligence from non-U.S. persons outside the U.S. without a warrant, as long as the surveillance is focused on foreign targets and not U.S. persons.
“This is an essential tool to protecting people and keeping our country safe,” Abbate said, adding that with this “great ability” also comes “great continued responsibility.”
“We have a great continued responsibility to be compliant with the law and the policy and the requirements around that, and technology plays a big part in that,” he said.
Abbate stressed the role of communications providers and private sector systems in this process, because “those are the technological underpinnings we rely on,” he explained.
These systems enable the collection and analysis of metadata and other information to locate individuals being monitored. He emphasized that the FBI uses these technological tools within a “very rigorous process and checks” to adhere to legal constraints while protecting the privacy of U.S. citizens.
