North Korea-Syria Contacts Viewed by Open Source Center
Intergovernmental contacts between North Korean and Syrian officials during the last two years were scrutinized by the DNI Open Source Center (pdf), but even in retrospect the available record presents no indication of joint work on a secret nuclear facility destroyed by Israel last September (large pdf).
“A review of available North Korean and Syrian print and online media in the period 2005-2007 has yielded the names of dozens of DPRK and Syrian officials involved in military, scientific, trade, and other aspects of bilateral relations,” the OSC analysis said.
However, “no obvious indications of covert military cooperation surfaced in the highly-censored media of North Korea or Syria in this period.”
In other words, assuming the allegations of clandestine nuclear cooperation are true, open source intelligence provided no clues concerning the activity.
Like most other OSC products, the new analysis has not been approved for public release. But a copy was obtained independently by Secrecy News. See “DPRK-Syria Bilateral Contacts, 2005-2007,” Open Source Center, May 2, 2008.
Commercial artificial intelligence tools have recently emerged that are able to produce police reports. If the resulting reports are inaccurate, incomplete or biased, or if the process leaks confidential information, this could undermine the criminal justice system and harm citizens.
Too often, affected patients, clinicians, and regulators cannot see how the system works, why a decision was made, or whether meaningful human oversight occurred.
Existing tools from other domains, such as existing robust public engagement processes in drug development, when applied to AI deployment can help strengthen public trust in these systems and enhance perceptions of their legitimacy and the decisions they produce.
With thoughtful policy action, it is still possible to build systems that are fair, transparent, and accountable, and to earn the public trust that will ultimately determine AI’s future. We hope policymakers are ready to act.