US Army criminal investigators seek AI tools to monitor darknet and encrypted messaging

The U.S. Army's Criminal Investigation Division is looking for a cloud-hosted commercial platform that uses behavioural analytics, machine learning and AI to track adversaries who plan against the military on the darknet and on encrypted apps such as Signal, Telegram and Discord, DefenseScoop reports, citing a request for information released this week.

The division wants tools that flag early signs of "mobilization to violence," translate slang and recognise coded symbols with natural language processing and computer vision, and link pseudonymous accounts across platforms into single profiles, including through blockchain and cryptocurrency transaction graphs. It also asks how vendors would keep human analysts in the loop when validating alerts, mask investigators' digital footprints and archive deleted or short-lived content as evidence. The Army says it wants to move from a "reactive footing" to a "proactive model."