Enhanced Object Based Production Conference
June 21-22, 2023
SAIC, Arlington, Virginia

The Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) recently hosted the Enhanced Object Based Production (EOBP) conference in Arlington, Virginia. The conference brought together faculty from the University at Buffalo working in the field of applied ontology, with members of the intelligence community and industry leaders for crucial discussions aimed at improving the methodologies and techniques of intelligence work. The primary objective was to foster the alignment of ontology development strategies with those of the Object Based Production (OBP) community.

The UB Department of Philosophy has for decades been a major player in the creation and dissemination of ontologies – logically well-defined controlled vocabularies of terms and relationships among them representing entities in a given domain – across government, academic, and industry spaces. The department is home to Dr. Barry Smith who is the creator of the Basic Formal Ontology, a top-level ontology architecture used by over 700 ontology projects internationally. Dr. Smith’s was joined by a number of UB-affiliated ontologists, including UB ontology graduate student Carter Benson (UB), who organized the event, and Dr. Werner Ceusters (UB) who is a lead figure in the field of Referent Tracking, an application of ontologies to tracking biomedical health records.

Representing OBP were pioneers of the field – Jim Tucson of SAIC and Geoff X. Davis of Celestar Corporation. OBP is a methodology used in the intelligence community that focuses on specific entities, known as "objects," as the core of information processing and analysis. These objects could be people, places, things, or any identifiable entities that intelligence officers are interested in. OBP offers several benefits. First, it simplifies complex data environments by focusing on the key entities. This makes it easier for intelligence officers to identify patterns, correlations, or unusual activities linked to these entities. Second, OBP allows for more efficient sharing of information, as data linked to specific objects can be readily exchanged between different teams or departments.

The conference name is meant to reflect the unity of applied ontology strategies following the design principles of BFO and Referent Tracking with those of OBP, resulting in Enhanced OBP (EOBP), understood as a sophisticated methodology for structuring data that allows centering of information using any portion of reality in the interest of improving provenance tracking. Consequently, EOBP touches on the questions of document reliability, evidence, and justification for use in decision-making.

Day one began with a deep dive into the foundational concepts of BFO led by Dr. Smith, which was followed by a detailed overview of Referent Tracking by Dr. Ceusters. Highlighting the first day was a keynote by Dr. Forrest Hare (Summit Knowledge Solutions), who shed light on the operational gaps within the intelligence community and how these can be addressed through the deployment of the Defense Intelligence Core Ontology (DICO), which is based on BFO and specific to content used across the defense and intelligence industry.

Day two of the conference saw discussions pivoting towards Provenance Ontology – a widely used ontology for representing tracking and origination of documents - and its mapping into BFO led by UB ontology graduate student, Austin Liebers. Here again Dr. Hare made an appearance by providing an overview of RDF STAR and its relationship to ontology development and EOBP. Subsequently, Dr. Smith presented work developed by Mark Jensen and Dr. David Limbaugh from the Calspan University at Buffalo Research Center, which further emphasized connections ontology representation strategies and EOBP, providing attendees a broader perspective on the subjects.

Attendees were also treated to an insightful presentation by Dr. Ryan Riccucci (Customs and Border Protection) who detailed the history of intelligence workflows from his experience with the Custom and Border Protection, followed by a call for the use of ontologies for addressing encountered challenges. Dr. Riccucci’s comprehensive presentation underscored the importance and potential applications of applied ontology and EOBP in modern intelligence operations.

The EOBP conference marked a substantial step towards wider adoption and implementation of applied ontology strategies combined with traditional object-based production within the intelligence community. The participants left with an in-depth understanding of the theory and practicalities of EOBP and its various aspects of ontology and applications in intelligence operations. Planning has, as a matter of fact, already begun for a follow-up conference to continue progressing on these important issues.

Carter Benson
Research Assistant, Department of Philosophy