Mission Control: Forensic Visual Analytics for AI-Agent Embargo Breach Investigation

Authors

Anna Baynes (California State University, Sacramento), Sheri Snehith (California State University)

Abstract

We present Mission Control, a forensic visual analytics system for the VAST 2026 Mini-Challenge~1 task: determine whether TenantThread's AI agents deliberately leaked embargoed merger information or whether the system broke down under pressure. We argue this challenge is distinctive in two ways. First, it is set in 2046, which is a synthetic near-future where AI-agent systems manage corporate communications and generate internal cognitive state records that constitute direct evidence of intent. Second, it reflects the current moment in visual analytics: human visual analytic developers are now working alongside AI as a full participant in the investigation workflow, raising fundamental questions about human accountability for AI-assisted findings. Our solution addresses both: an Evidence Explorer makes agents' deliberating fields searchable alongside public messages, grounding every finding in a verifiable data record; and a Chain of Custody breadcrumb navigator lets a human legal team follow the provenance of each conclusion from visualization back to the raw dataset. Our goal was to produce a visualization that a human investigator could stand behind and be accountable for with a strong level of confidence.