Researchers at Rice Univ. have developed a new software tool that searches large databases of news reports to identify terrorist groups that may be responsible for attacks as they are being carried out. The tool is designed to help analysts sift through the massive amounts of available information. “While experts on conflict are essential, they need new tools for coping with information overload,” says Christopher Bronk, a fellow in technology, society and public policy at Rice’s Baker Institute for Public Policy. “That’s what we’re trying to provide.” During the terrorist attacks in Mumbai in November, a Rice undergraduate program assistant used the software to query information reported by television networks. The queries centered on the weapons used and tactics without regard to geography or ideology. The result was a list of terrorist groups such al Qaeda, Hamas and others, all of whom might be able to pull off such an attack. Next the researchers focused on groups known to be active in South Asia. This query generated groups such as Lashkar-e-Tayyba, Jammaat-ul-Mujahideen and Al-Mansoorian. Then the researchers ran simple queries against the open source database at the Institute for the Study of Violent Groups at Sam Houston State Univ., which culls thousands of news stories reported around the world, coming up with the same groups mentioned as likely suspects in Indian, U.S., and other international media. When the queries were run against a second database constructed by researchers at the Univ. of Maryland, Lashkar-e-Tayyba was returned at the most likely culprit. The software tool “allowed us to match signatures and say, with some confidence, what groups had the requisite experience, resources and coordinating factors to pull off the Mumbai attacks,” Bronk says.