Snake Eater is a military identification system and

database In computing, a database is an organized collection of data stored and accessed electronically. Small databases can be stored on a file system, while large databases are hosted on computer clusters or cloud storage. The design of databases spa ...

developed by Computer Deductions, Inc. for the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

. The system allows military personnel to track and identify terrorists and insurgents in much the same way that mobile data terminals are used by

police officer A police officer (also called a policeman and, less commonly, a policewoman) is a warranted law employee of a police force. In most countries, "police officer" is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. In some, the use of the ...

s for criminals. Development began in late 2006 after being suggested by Major

Owen West Owen West is a United States Marine, banker, and author who served as Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low-Intensity Conflict from 2017 to 2019. His June 6, 2017, nomination for this post was confirmed by a 74–23 vote ...

, a

Marine Corps Marines, or naval infantry, are typically a military force trained to operate in littoral zones in support of naval operations. Historically, tasks undertaken by marines have included helping maintain discipline and order aboard the ship (refle ...

officer serving in the

Anbar Province Al Anbar Governorate ( ar, محافظة الأنبار; ''muḥāfaẓat al-’Anbār''), or Anbar Province, is the largest governorate in Iraq by area. Encompassing much of the country's western territory, it shares borders with Syria, Jordan, ...

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

. Snake Eater gives military personnel access to a database including names, addresses, known associates, and other pieces of information. This information, previously collected in homemade

spreadsheet A spreadsheet is a computer application for computation, organization, analysis and storage of data in tabular form. Spreadsheets were developed as computerized analogs of paper accounting worksheets. The program operates on data entered in ce ...

s or on pieces of paper, can now be accessed and expanded through hand-held devices. Funding for the project was originally provided by the

Spirit of America Spirit of America may refer to: Transport *Spirit of America (automobile), land speed record-setting vehicles *''Spirit of America'', a book of photography by Ken Duncan *''Spirit of America'', the first B-2 Spirit bomber *''Spirit of America'', o ...

project, a civilian organization that advocates support of U.S. troops abroad. Spirit of America provided $30,000 for the development of a prototype model, with Goldman Sachs contributing another $14,000. The system uses technology previously released by Cross Match Technologies and Knowledge Computing Corporation of Arizona.

External links

''Snake Eater''
(A ''

Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'' opinion piece that explains the origin of the system)
''Cross Match Technologies''
Automatic identification and data capture Terrorism databases United States Army projects Iraq War 2000s software {{US-mil-stub