The Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA) is harnessing artificial intelligence and “structured professional judgment” tools to identify insider threat risks earlier and more effectively, according to a senior agency official.
Speaking during an Intelligence and National Security Alliance webinar on Aug. 26, James Shappell, director of the Insider Threat Management and Analysis Center at DCSA, outlined how the agency is using AI to improve early detection and intervention efforts – while emphasizing the importance of keeping a human in the loop.
“We’re moving forward with agile development of technology and capabilities,” Shappell said, noting that the agency is working to consolidate its data in a way that supports timely, risk-based decisions and “not lose the human in the loop.”
Shappell explained that DCSA is building a centralized capability to integrate its vast data holdings, which can then be used by authorized personnel to assess behavioral indicators and potential threats. The agency is aligning that data with scientifically validated structured professional judgment tools such as WAVR-21 (Workplace Assessment of Violence Risk) and TRAP-18 (Terrorist Radicalization Assessment Protocol).
“These tools already have research behind them,” he said. “By mapping them to our existing data, we can identify gaps and triage risk signals in a way that brings a human analyst into the loop sooner.”
The goal, Shappell said, is to reduce bias and improve response times by combining AI with expert judgment. He emphasized that while AI and machine learning offer promising capabilities, they “are only as good as the people who train and implement them.”
“That’s the pathway that we’re working towards to try to get there [and] those are the scientific methods and models that we want to use to try to help make sure that we reduce the biases from these tools,” Shappell said. “And obviously we want that to be something that permeates across the department,” he added.
The initiative is part of a broader roadmap for the Defense Security Analysis and Threat System, which will become the enterprise insider threat capability across the Department of Defense. DCSA is working closely with the Program Executive Office to ensure the right priorities are addressed as the effort scales on a department-wide basis.