Entry Name: TUE-Elzen-MC1

VAST Challenge 2014
Mini-Challenge 1

Team Members:

Stef van den Elzen

Eindhoven University of Technology and SynerScope B.V.

s.j.v.d.elzen@tue.nl

PRIMARY

Paul van der Corput

Eindhoven University of Technology

p.n.a.v.d.corput@tue.nl

Martijn van Dortmont

Eindhoven University of Technology and SynerScope B.V.

m.a.m.m.v.dortmont@tue.nl

Roeland Scheepens

Eindhoven University of Technology

r.j.scheepens@tue.nl

Kasper Dinkla,

Eindhoven University of Technology

k.dinkla@tue.nl

Student Team: YES

Analytic Tools Used:

Custom text analysis tool developed by team members

SynerScope Marcato (http://www.synerscope.com/)

Approximately how many hours were spent working on this submission in total?

240 hours

May we post your submission in the Visual Analytics Benchmark Repository after VAST Challenge 2014 is complete?

YES

Video: TUE-ELZEN-MC1.wmv

Questions

MC1.1 Provide a visual representation of the structure of the Protectors of Kronos network, with supporting evidence.

a. Who are the leaders?

b. Who is part of the extended network?

c. How has the group structure and organization changed over time?

d. Where are the potential connections between the POK and GAStech?

Provide novel visualizations appropriate for communicating key information to the busy leaders of the investigation. Please limit your response to no more than eight images and 500 words.

Information on the organization of POK has been extracted from the historical files [5 year report clean, 10 year historical document clean] and compiled into Figures 1 and XX. These figures have been composed by hand and manually derived from the historical files because of their sparse yet complex contents.

Global network

Important actors as well as their associations are presented in the figure below. This figure is divided into four groups of stakeholders: The Kronos government, its Public, GAStech employees, and Protectors of Kronos members.

Figure 1: Global network with important actors.

Silvia Marek is emphasized as the POK leader (see Figure 2), in succession to Elian Karel (deceased in 2009). The historical files indicate Mandor Vann as an alternate (and possibly aggressive) successor. Directed searches of the news articles with POK member names revealed Silvia Marek as the current leader [article 454] but her control of POK is questionable [article 508] (see Figure 3). Possible family ties of Mandor Vann to the GAStech security division make his involvement in the incident (and consequent leadership of a militant POK fraction) plausible. Moreover, several GAStech security personnel received a general discharge instead of an honorable discharge from the Kronos military, which makes militant behavior more likely.

Figure 2: Silvia Marek takes over leadership of POK.

Figure 3: Questionable leadership of Silvia Marek.

Directed news article searches have been performed for all actors of the network, using the visual text analysis tool described in MC 1.2. These searches did not result in any additional actors or associations of interest, but has dispelled a family tie between Edvard Vann and the other Vann family [article 466] (see Figure 3). Many of the indicated family associations are based on matching surnames and are therefore unreliable. However, cross referencing all known POK members with GAStech employees [employee records] revealed a large and mostly isolated number of family ties between POK and the GAStech security division. These ties include Mandor Vann, which substantiates involvement of GAStech security in a possible abduction.

Figure 4: Edvard Vann not related to (Juliana) Vann family.

Evolution diagram

The figure below shows the evolution of the POK, including possible family ties between POK and GAStech employees. Here the recent hiring of several GAStech security personnel with ties to POK--right after Silvia Marek assumed POK leadership--draws suspicion.

Figure 5: Evolution of POK including possible family ties to GAStech employees.

MC1.2 Describe the events of January 20-21, 2014. What is the timeline of events? Please limit your response to no more than ten images and 500 words.

A custom developed visual analysis search tool is used to deduce a timeline of events. Keywords of interest are highlighted in the document grid where documents are ordered from left to right, top to bottom chronologically.

January 20, 2014 GAStech has an annual corporative meeting.

10:00 At the end of the meeting a fire alarm is sounded at the GAStech Kronos headquarters.

10:20 GAStech employees evacuate the building and a helicopter leaves from the roof of the building.

10:25 Five minutes later the Abila Fire Department arrives at GAStech.

10:27 It is speculated that this evacuation is caused due to a bomb threat.

10:30 Three minutes later the Abila Fire Department enters the building.

10:50 The CEO of GAStech Sanjorge Jr. arrives at the capital building to meet with President Kapelou and several of his Ministers and Council members.

11:30 The fire officials exit the building.

11:45 GAStech employees enter the building again.

12:20 The Abila police is called for an unspecified emergency at the GAStech headquarters.

12:30 GAStech executives have not arrived at the scheduled reception at the capital except for the CEO Sanjorge Jr. A private jet takes off with seven or eight "business type" passengers that appear to be in a hurry. Destination is unknown.

12:32 There is speculation that the GAStech executives and Kronos officials fled the country with their fortune and money from the Kronos coffers [article 616].

12:40 The police arrives at the GAStech headquarters they leave again at 13:00.

13:56 Media outlets have reported that GAStech-Tethys have confirmed they are missing a number of employees.

14:00 A security official from the government is let into the building. 5 minutes later other government officials arrive at the GAStech headquarters.

14:30 Another private jet with destination Rome, Italy takes off. There is no relation to GAStech [article 573].

15:06 The police leaves GAStech.

16:10 The GAStech executive jet arrives in Tethys with Sanjorge Jr. The jet is refueled and departes for Abila International Airport, with six GAStech officials onboard.

17:30 Unofficial reports from the police indicate a kidnapping of the employees by POK.

18:30 The GAStech jet arrives at the airport. The occupants are taken by limousine to the GAStech building.

19:30 The police announces that there are about 14 GAStech individuals missing, there is no indication that the missing individuals have left the island.

20:00 President Kapelou is moved to a secure location.

22:30 GAStech corporate officials arrive in a private jet and go directly to the Abila Police headquarters.

January 21, 2014

9:00 A police conference is held that reports 10 people are presumed missing.

10:16 It is announced that CEO Sten Sanjorge is not among the missing GAStech employees and has returned to Tethys.

12:00 The POK have released a statement claiming responsibility for the kidnapping and demand a $20 million ransom from the CEO Sten Sanjorge Jr.

MC1.3 Identify at least two possible explanations why the GAStech employees may be missing. What evidence do you have to support each of these explanations? Please limit your response to no more than three additional images and 200 words.

Based on the available data, two scenarios are plausible:

1. The POK have abducted the employees. Given their dislike of GAStech and the corrupt government officials, it seems plausible that the more militant members of the POK have taken it upon themselves to acquire money to help alleviate the suffering of their people by ransoming the abducted employees. [article 167, article 824] reveal that not only has the POK claimed responsibility, but they have also demanded a ransom of $20M. There is some evidence in the mail data suggesting several GAStech employees may have been involved.

2. There is some evidence that suggests that some of the missing GAStech employees may have left to an undisclosed location on a private jet, avoiding the celebrations altogether. [article 718] mentions two aircraft the first of which took off around 12:30 to an unknown destination. [article 573] reveals that the second aircraft was not related to GAStech. This scenario is further supported by emails from the employees about vacation spots and watering of plants for the next month. The ransom claim by the POK may be an attempt to abuse the confusion surrounding the disappearance of the employees.