CSUSB receives $1.1 million gift of software programs for terrorism intelligence analysis

The software programs used by the intelligence and law enforcement agencies to analyze the reams of intelligence on terrorism will be available to students at Cal State San Bernardino's National Security Studies program.

Software company i2 - the leading worldwide provider of visual investigative

analysis software, data services and mapping for law enforcement, intelligence and the military - will donate its award-winning program "Analyst's Notebook" to Cal State San Bernardino and Long Beach State, said Mark T. Clark, director of CSUSB's National Security Studies program. The software has a value of more than $1,113,000, Clark said.

"i2's software gift will give our students working experience with the actual analytical programs now being used by our intelligence gatherers. That, in turn, will give our students an additional edge when they apply to agencies, organizations and businesses for jobs," Clark said. "This gift will not only complement an already exceptional program, it will make it even better."

More than 2,000 organizations and Fortune 500 businesses in over 100 countriesuse i2 software for investigations and intelligence analysis.

The company, under its Collegiate Outreach Program, will provide five different software suites both for faculty and students in departmental labs. It will also provide technical support and training for each of the software packages for the principal users.

The i2 Collegiate Outreach Program provides eligible universities and colleges with products, support and instructor training for use within degree programs relevant to the intelligence and law enforcement communities.

"Analyst's Notebook" is software used by the intelligence community and federal law enforcement agencies as a tool to understand complex scenarios and volumes of seemingly unrelated data perform analysis and report the results. Former students of the university's National Security Studies program now working in the field of counterterrorism say they use the software daily in their jobs.

Craig Fuher, chair of the National Security Studies Development Board, and Clark participated in a week-long training session on "Analyst's Notebook" at the company's Sacramento office to determine the best possibleway to introduce students to it in the National Security Studies program curriculum. Clark said they will also try to incorporate the software into the CSU Intelligence Community Center of Academic Excellence (CSUACE) consortium of which the CSUSB National Securities Studies program is the lead agency. The consortium consists of Cal State San Bernardino, Long Beach State and five other CSU campuses: Bakersfield, Dominguez Hills, Fullerton, Northridge and Cal Poly Pomona.

Fuher will be developing a teaching module on "Understanding Terrorist Financing" using "Analyst's Notebook," which he will provide to introductory classes in National Security Studies and for a speaker series with CSU ACE.

The next step includes supporting a new class on "Tracking Terrorism in Africa," as part of the NSS program. Cal State San Bernardino Professor Donovan Chau will develop the class using "Analyst's Notebook" as a vehicle for students to learn the subject through new technology, which the NSS program expects to offer for the first time in fall 2008.