Raytheon software monitors global media broadcasts 24/7

Raytheon does not only work on swarm boat weapons and intercepts missiles, but they also have software that will help the government monitor TV broadcasts around the globe, round-the-clock, while performing an instantaneous translation as well as analysis. Sounds like magic? Actually, we are surprised to hear that this Raytheon system has been deployed operationally since 2004 by the Department of Defense, where it is used for a range of purposes such as open-source intelligence, information operations, public affairs and PsyOps. There is no need for any hardware setup, fancy software installation processes or onsite administration or maintenance, making it a snap to run anywhere in the world.

The thing is, did it manage to anticipate the kind of escalating negative sentiment towards Americans due to foreign media coverage concerning the film “Innocence of Muslims” which offended many of the Islamic faith? We will never know, considering many have already died including a US diplomat.

Known as the BBN Broadcast Monitoring System, it will automatically capture foreign media and deploy state of the art technology to translate, transcribe and analyze those video and audio streams in real time. Program director Prem Natarajan, head of speech and language processing at Raytheon BBN Technologies, said, “Machines are good at looking for things and humans are good at analyzing … [it’s the] perfect bionic combination. The machine does what it’s good at and the human does what it’s good at.”