Wednesday, May 11, 2011 at 1:11PM CBS San Francisco Highlights Facial Recognition in Bin Laden Raid from threevr on Vimeo.
3VR's own director of research and development, Tim Frederick, explains how powerful facial recognition technology identified Osama bin Laden -- "even with a bullet in the eye." The interview was featured on CBS News in San Francisco.
Monday, May 9, 2011 at 12:28PM It's the type of story that's almost too bizarre to be true. But both military officials and researchers at the University of Washington have confirmed that the U.S. military once considered using flocks of crows to track down Osama bin Laden.
According to news reports, John Marzluff, a wildlife sciences professor at the university, was contracted years ago by the military to study crows and their ability to recognize human faces.
Crows' innate facial recognition capabilities make them a unique asset -- unless they're trained to track you down of course.
KING 5 in Seattle reports:
Marzluff and his team wore caveman masks when they captured and tagged crows on the UW campus. To this day, if they wear those masks, they are harassed by flocks of crows following their every step. When they take the masks off, the crows leave them alone.
The military heard of this research and considered the possibility of using crows to recognize missing soldiers or even the world's most wanted terrorist, bin Laden.
Marzluff said he could train the crows to idenfity bin Laden by harassing (or even killing) them while wearing an Osama mask. Over time, he said, "word" would spread to crows around the world.
Monday, May 2, 2011 at 10:21AM
Osama Bin Laden was wanted dead or alive. After almost 10 years since Sept. 11, he received a death sentence thanks to our brave troops, and America and the world celebrates.
Last August, President Obama was briefed about a possible lead to Bin Laden hiding in a compound in Pakistan. Last week, it was determined there was enough credible intelligence to take action.
"Today, at my direction, the United States launched a targeted operation against that compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan," said President Obama in a televised address to the nation. "A small team of American carried out the operation with extrodinary courage and capability. No American were harmed; they took care to avoid civilan casualties. After a fire fight, they killed Osama Bin Laden and took custody of his body.
Reports say Bin Laden was shot in the face and postively identified by DNA testing and CIA's facial recognition technology with 95-percent accuracy.
Monday, May 2, 2011 at 9:08AM 
Although Predator drones were on call during yesterday's military operations, it was an elite unit of Navy Seals that finished the job -- proof that robots aren't the man for every job.
Drones are used regularly in Middle Eastern operations. However, the ground mission that resulted in Osama bin Laden's death was simply too sensitive for Predators, officials said. Because the operation had so many unknowns and such a high-profile target, President Obama mobilized a small contingent of the Navy's elite Seals, under CIA orders.
Yesterday's mission included back-up from fighter jets, as well as surveillance and firepower from armed and unarmed Predator drones. Luckily, the soldiers were able to execute the operation cleanly and without civilian deaths.
