SNA used to capture Saddam Hussein

Many thanks to David Koelle at Charles River Analytics for sharing this headline with me: "Sociological skills used in the capture of Saddam Hussein." (Published just last month in Footnotes, the newsletter of the American Sociological Association.)

The article profiles the impressive work of of Major Brian J. Reed: "He reports using a layered social network analysis to locate Hussein prior to his capture. 'The intelligence background and link diagrams that we built were rooted in the concepts of network analysis. We constructed an elaborate product that traced the tribal and family linkages of Saddam Hussein thereby allowing us to focus on certain individuals who may have had (or presently had) close ties to [him],' said Reed."

So look out, all you evildoers. You can run into your structural holes, but you can't hide.