The Department of Homeland Security‘s science and technology directorate has selected George Mason University to lead a consortium of academic, government, laboratory and industry partners that will operate a new Criminal Investigations and Network Analysis Center of Excellence.DHS said Wednesday the center will work alongside federal, state and local law enforcement agencies as well as other department components to develop new systems that field agents and officers can use to address, predict and prosecute crimes.
The CINA CoE will also conduct research on criminal network analysis, criminal activity patterns, criminal investigative processes and forensics.
DHS will award the consortium a $3.9 million grant to cover the first operating year of the center’s 10-year grant period.
“We need to ensure that the nation’s law enforcement entities have the most sophisticated tools to counter transnational criminal networks, cross-border criminal activities, and criminal exploitation of the cyber domain,” said William Bryan, acting undersecretary for science and technology.
“This new center’s objective is to provide law enforcement agents, officers and investigators with those tools in the form of novel technologies and strategies,” Bryan added.
