Global Argus:
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Another project generating excitement within the intelligence community is Argus, which began at the CIA as an experimental warning system for biological weapons attacks. Even natural outbreaks of disease can spread for weeks before they're identified by healthcare systems. Instead of waiting for reports from local doctors and hospitals, Argus uses software that treats the Earth's communications almost like a giant EKG, looking for certain kinds of spikes in global information networks. Search programs zero in on key words on the Internet and in news media that might indicate an epidemic, such as heavy rates of absenteeism, runs on pharmaceutical drugs, and migration away from villages and towns. When Haseltine found Argus at the CIA, the project's funding was in danger. Fascinated, Haseltine quickly provided the needed money.
Today, Argus is being used by the National Institutes of Health and the U.N.'s World Health Organization to check for outbreaks of all kinds, from sars to avian flu. "Argus has allowed us to take a giant leap forward," says Kimothy Smith, who runs the biosurveillance unit at DHS. In the intelligence community, its use continues to expand. Argus, says one source, is now used to detect "anything that disrupts the social fabric."

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The frequency of biological events with a potential impact on homeland security is increasing, and current disease surveillance systems in the United States (U.S.) have been inefficient in their capacity to detect these events in a timely fashion. The clear and present danger to the United States spans infectious diseases of humans, animals, and plants.

Indications and Warnings (I&Ws) alert U.S. responders of an imminent bioevent weeks to months in advance. I&Ws are markers occurring globally, outside of U.S. borders, before an outbreak can affect U.S. interests, forces, citizens, or territory, thus allowing the U.S. time to respond. In effect, I&Ws can prime the national response infrastructure by alerting agencies of an evolving threat that could ultimately be catastrophic. Retrospective analyses of major bioevents have demonstrated the presence of multiple I&Ws were present in multiple data sources weeks to months in advance, which were not recognized and utilized properly by the national response community.

For the U.S. to meet present and future biothreats that span agricultural, animal, and human considerations, an integrative strategy for information discovery, exploitation, and effective proactive use by the response community is critical. I&Ws provide a key component for integration within the U.S. biosurveillance portfolio, enabling earlier warning potential. Project Argus is the first attempt to integrate I&Ws in effort to detect catastrophic bioevents on an international scale. The Argus system serves as a primer for U.S. countermeasure response plans in the context of a potentially catastrophic bioevent. Project ARGUS is jointly funded by the US Army Medical Research and Materiel Command Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center (USAMRMC-TATRC) and the Department of Homeland Security.