Wikirecon

With our UAVs flying over battlefields relying on stateside pilots and analysts to scrutinize the video feeds, couldn't we harness the power of the Internet to allow civilians who already pore over Google Earth photos to spot interesting defense-related installations to contribute to the war?

Civilians already support the war effort by writing about it and mobilizing support online or directly sending supplies to the troops in the field.

Why can't we wiki up the routine patrols not related to specific missions underway in order to create an online reserve of amateur analysts who flag suspicious activity? Have the software analyze the amateur notation to screen out duplicates and flag anything that seems to warrant attention for an actual military analyst to look at. Some type of screening would be necessary to keep the noise level down.

I'm not sure how you screen those who volunteer and make such help useful, but surely we can make more use of this type of talent than we could make use of old pots and pans in metal collection drives in World War II. At the very least, we'd get more of our population involved when we simply don't need a draft for mass manpower mobilization. Perhaps we just start with Department of Defense civilian and military employees, and later expand it based on whether or not this more restricted population works out.

Wikireconnaissance may not be a practical idea, but some type of silicon militia at least seems in order for the Long War.