Software uncovers intel data

Software from Vredenburg is helping U.S. intelligence agencies comb through thousands of foreign documents.

"If you have a dearth of linguists, you may never look at some of these documents. There are a large volume of documents from Desert Storm that have not been translated. If you're looking for a needle in a haystack, the needle may still be there," said Doug Dearie, senior vice president and chief technology officer of Vredenburg. The Reston, Va., company creates document management systems for federal agencies.

A tremendous volume of documents, both paper and electronic, are captured during military and intelligence operations around the world. Now, a new Vredenburg system, DOCEX, is helping find the needles in the haystacks.

The U.S. military and intelligence community are using DOCEX -- for "document exploitation" -- to identify important documents more quickly, so that vital information can be used during current operations, Vredenburg officials said. The solution is being rapidly deployed to support the military overseas, but company officials declined to say where it is being used.