Big Data for National Security in the Era of COVID-19

The COVID-19 epidemic has changed the world dramatically as societies adjust their behaviour to meet the challenges and uncertainties of the new normal. These uncertainties have led to instabilities in several facets of society, most notably health, economy and public order. Increasing discontent within societies in response to government mandated measures to contain the pandemic have triggered social unrest, imposing serious threats to national security. Big Data Analytics can provide a powerful force multiplier to support policy and decision makers to contain the virus while at the same time dealing with such threats to national security. This paper presents the utilisation of a big data forecasting and analytics framework to deal with COVID-19 triggered social unrest. The framework is applied and demonstrated in two different disruptive incidents in the United States of America. © 2021, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

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