User:RelentlessRecusant/Directed Electronic Capture Array, Longitudinal

The Directed Electronic Capture Array, Longitudinal (DECAL), known also as Operation Circumspect Sentinel, is a multi-component signals intelligence (SIGINT) collection and analysis program operated under the purview of the UNSC Office of Naval Intelligence, Directorate of Fleet Intelligence (Section One), specifically its Radio Intelligence Program (alternatively known formally as the Department for Signals Intelligence).

The program subsumes under its responsibility thousands of DECAL stations that prosecute the high-throughput interception and downloading of UNSC civilian signals traffic as well as signals traffic from the corporate sector, personal sector, a variety of PMCs and criminal organizations, as well as Covenant military, government, and civilian traffic. Operation Circumspect Sentinel derives from similar SIGINT programs that have been active since the days of Unified Earth Government rule in the 22th century when humanity was confined to the solar system—as UEG rule changed hands to that of the United Nations Space Command, its SIGINT programs have been continually evolving over centuries, until they reached their pinnacle; Operation Circumspect Sentinel, the largest signals traffic surveillance and interception program in the galaxy.

Machine learning algorithms devised by the Radio Intelligence Program are routinely "trained" on the supermassive database of signals fragments collated by the DECAL network to identify conspicuous traffic patterns and emerging nodes of communication (potentially new insurgent groups or new modalities of communication being clandestinely developed) or to specifically seek and track down the transmissions of certain high-value targets (HVTs) which the Office of Naval Intelligence maintains an active interest in. Operation Circumspect Sentinel intelligence informs a surprising number of operations undertaken by the Directorate of Strategic Intelligence and the Advanced Special Operations Command, with special missions units such as Joint Special Operations Task Force 452 frequently electronically tracking the locations of their targets through SIGINT gathered by DECAL stations.