The Video Surveillance and Monitoring (VSAM) project is developing automated video understanding technology for use in future urban and battlefield surveillance applications, where human visual monitoring is too costly, too dangerous, or otherwise impractical. Novel image understanding technologies developed under the VSAM project will enable a single human operator to monitor activities over a large, complex area using a distributed network of video sensors. Sample applications include building and parking lot security, monitoring restricted access areas in warehouses and airports, scanning urban battlezones for sniper activity, and performing reconnaissance on the battlefield. The VSAM project is being sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Information Systems Office (DARPA ISO), as part of the Image Understanding for Battlefield Awareness effort.