Un-Weaving Networks

We focus on networks for good. Unfortunately, others on this planet build networks of crime and terror. These networks are soon caught in a dance of stealth vs. exposure, and weaving vs. un-weaving.

A controversy arose when USA Today announced, in a front-page article, the US government's NSA was using "social network analysis" on phone records of US citizens to catch international terrorists. Some citizens were scared, others assured, while still others sounded like Alfred E Neuman -- What, me worry? Since "social network analysis" was a foreign term to most journalists, they started Googling. My phone started ringing off the hook. Soon "social network analysis" was front page news.

As I talked to the various journalists, I soon realized that they are also creators of networks, but not exactly "weavers". They make themselves the hub in a network of many spokes -- playing the "structural holes" between the spokes. Journalists survive on these trusted experts, who not only provide knowledge and opinion, but often introduce the journalists to other go-to people. It was an interesting experience. Most of my quotes were used correctly, except for one I/T publication that got it exactly the opposite of what I said. Once discovered, they were very quick and gracious in fixing their error.

The point I made to all of the journalists was that a massive who-calls-whom database by itself was not going to tell you much -- and getting more data is not the answer. The best way to use who-calls-whom data is to find an entry point into the terror network, via a suspect, and then unravel the network neighborhood around them using whatever contact data can be obtained via legal surveillance... like I wrote in 2002.

Lessons can be learned in the most unlikely places. While I was examining networks of terror, I learned quite a bit about weaving resilient networks for good. If you take something apart, you learn how it is put together, and how you can improve it.

Here are some of the better articles from my month as an instant pundit...
• Washington Post
• Cleveland Plain Dealer
• Christian Science Monitor
• Newsweek
• SLATE