Department Of Homeland Security’s Interest In Balfour Technologies

By Ashley Jones on March 5, 2010, 6:00 am Posted in Business News

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has recently shown interest in the products of Balfour Technologies. Balfour is a company that supplies integrated intelligence management software to defense contractors and government agencies. One of the often cited complaints in intelligence circles is that while information is known, the individual pieces of information are not combined into “the big picture”. Balfour Technologies is at the forefront of developing software to achieve this integration.

How Balfour Can Help

Often these bits of information range from communication intercepts, geographical location of subjects under surveillance, or even recent banking transactions. Balfour is working on technology to link all these disparate elements into a cohesive situational awareness to aid law enforcement, the military, and the intelligence community. This awareness is what is needed to better identify risks to national security and prevent incidents before they happen.

But The Flip Side

Along with this increased integration comes a higher level of scrutiny. The natural tendency is that as more information that was once neglected is now valuable, more information should be gathered. In other words, the day of “you can run, but you can’t hide” are now upon us. Every aspect of our lives from what we buy at the supermarket, to who we call on our cellphone, to our stock market transactions, to our actual location can now be sorted, classified, categorized, and cross referenced in real time thanks to Balfour.

 

Nobody argues that the intervention of the government to prevent terrorist acts is necessary. But at the highest levels, where the line between the government and industry is blurred or non-existent, the monitoring and acquisition of intelligence is increasingly becoming a concern. Firms such as Balfour Technologies are developing the methods and infrastructure to achieve this. The Department of Homeland Security is well aware that he who has the information has the strategic edge, but to what ends that information will be used is anyone’s guess.

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