Inside the IC

The intelligence community has a big new tech strategy Jun 27, 2024

The intelligence community has laid out new priorities for the cloud, AI, cybersecurity and more in a new "Information Technology Roadmap" released in late May. The IC's Chief Information Officer, Adele Merritt, joined the show to explain the goals of the new strategy. "This roadmap really provides a unified vision for where the IC needs to go over the next five years," Merritt told me.

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The State Department has a new OSINT strategy May 28, 2024

On the heels of a new intelligence community-wide open-source intelligence strategy . . . the State Department now has its own OSINT strategy. The Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR) uses OSINT to inform U.S. diplomacy, a unique role in the intelligence community. And one of the big goals of the new strategy is to better serve U.S. diplomats across the world by generating more unclassified assessments.

I spoke with Brett Holmgren, assistant secretary of state for intelligence and research, about the goals of the new strategy and what INR will be doing to better serve U.S. diplomats using OSINT.

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Inside the IC's new open source intelligence strategy Apr 24, 2024

Leaders of top U.S. intelligence agencies have signed onto a plan to centralize and take better advantage of open source intelligence, or OSINT. The new OSINT strategy aims to make open-source an “the INT of first resort.” Those words, in the title of the strategy, are a tacit recognition that spy agencies have traditionally favored gaining intelligence from highly secretive sources – human intelligence, spy satellites, and electronic signals – rather than open-source data.

I spoke with Jason Barrett, the open-source intelligence executive at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and Randy Nixon, the director of the open source enterprise within the CIA's Directorate of Digital Innovation, about the strategy's goals. They include centralizing OSINT data across the IC, cultivating a world-class OSINT workforce, and harnessing new AI and machine learning tools.

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The women leading at the NSA Mar 13, 2024

Women make up about 40% of the intelligence community's workforce, a percentage that ranks behind both federal workforce and civilian labor benchmarks. That's according to the latest demographics report from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. And women are even more underrepresented in the leadership ranks throughout the IC.

But agencies aren't ignoring the issue. The National Security Agency's "Future Ready Workforce" initiative has already led to several changes that will likely make the NSA a more attractive employer for all employees, including women. And NSA leaders are also investing in education and other programs that encourage girls to get involved in STEM.

I spoke with three women leaders at the NSA about the past, present and future for women at the agency. They are Morgan Adamski, chief of the NSA's Cybersecurity Collaboration Center; Kristina Walter, director of the NSA's Future Ready Workforce Initiative; and Tahira Mammen, acting director of the AI Security Center, which is housed within the Cybersecurity Collaboration Center.

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Goodbye SF-86? White House approves 'Personnel Vetting Questionnaire' Feb 23, 2024

The Standard Form-86, a long-used questionnaire for government positions requiring security clearance, is set to be phased out after the White House Office of Management and Budget approved a new form replacing the SF-86 and several other legacy forms.

I spoke with John Berry, a security clearance attorney at Berry and Berry PLLC law firm, about some of the big changes new "Personnel Vetting Questionnaire," including questions around marijuana use, mental health history, and foreign connections.

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DIA CIO on cybersecurity, zero trust and AI Jan 26, 2024

The Defense Intelligence Agency runs the federal government's top-secret IT network. DIA is in the middle of a major modernization of that network. And in addition to running new routers and switches, DIA also wants to upgrade to more network automation and help lay the groundwork for the intelligence community to leverage AI. Cybersecurity is also essential, both to defend against outside hackers and prevent insider threats. For the latest, I spoke with DIA Chief Information Officer Doug Cossa.

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NGA looks to build on ‘neurodiversity’ hiring effort Jan 10, 2024

More than three years ago, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency launched a “neurodiversity” hiring pilot program. The idea was to make it easier to recruit individuals with differences in brain functioning, such as people with autism, who could contribute to the mission, but may have difficulty navigating the traditional hiring process and workplace environment. Now, NGA is looking to build off its initial pilot program with a broader effort. For the latest, I spoke with Jen King, a senior GEOINT analyst and program manager for the neurodiversity program at NGA.

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An interview with the intelligence community's top HR official Nov 30, 2023

Gen Z , or those born between the late 1990’s and the early 2000’s , will likely comprise at least one-quarter of the global workforce by 2025. In order to tap into that younger generation of talent, U.S. intelligence agencies are trying to be more flexible with their hiring and retention practices.

For an in-depth discussion on the IC’s workforce strategies, I spoke with Cynthia Snyder, the assistant director of national intelligence for human capital.

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How to improve the 'SCIF life' Oct 05, 2023

The vast majority of employees across the intelligence community work out of Sensitive Compartmented Information Facilities, or "SCIFs." These are essentially highly protected office spaces with restrictive rules, including a ban on cell phones and other devices. The Intelligence and National Security Agency's latest white paper, "Reimagining the SCIF Life," considers how spy agencies could make life inside a SCIF a little bit better, while also giving employees more flexibility in terms of when they need to work out of a SCIF. Here's a link to the white paper: https://www.insaonline.org/docs/default-source/uploadedfiles/2023/insa-reimagining-the-scif-life.pdf

For more on the recommendations, I spoke with INSA's Executive Vice President John Doyon.

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The Army's intelligence chief discusses the service's new OSINT strategy Sep 06, 2023

The Army is making a strong push into open source intelligence. Earlier this year, the Army published its first OSINT strategy. The service's goal is to "professionalize" its OSINT workforce and use OSINT as an intelligence discipline "of first resort," Lt. Gen. Laura Potter, the Army's deputy chief of staff for intelligence, tells me in this week's show. Also joining the show is Dennis Eger, the Army's senior open source intelligence advisor.

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How the government could consider 'candidate experience' in the screening process Aug 23, 2023

The personnel vetting process is a major drag on the government's hiring ambitions. It can often leave candidates confused and in the dark, even before they start the lengthy background investigation process. So what if the government focused more on the "candidate experience," similar to the ever increasing focus on "customer experience" at many agencies? A new RAND report (link below) takes an extensive look at that question and offers some interesting recommendations. I spoke with Dave Stebbins, a political scientist at RAND and one of the lead authors on the report.

Report link: https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA1990-1.html

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What do the Discord leaks mean for security clearance holders? Jul 21, 2023

In a June 30 memo, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin directed Pentagon officials to take a range of actions to tighten access to classified information. The directive stems from a review of security procedures Austin ordered earlier this spring in reaction to the Discord leaks, allegedly by 21-year-old Air National Guardsman Jack Teixeira.

What do these new actions mean for security clearance applicants and holders? To dive more into that question, Inside the IC spoke with Dan Meyer, a security clearance attorney at Tully Rinckey.

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Intel community’s new data strategy looks to lay foundations of AI future Jul 18, 2023

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The over-classification problem in government Jun 01, 2023

For this episode, I speak with Henry Sokolski, executive director of the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center, about NPEC's influential paper, "Over-classification: How Bad Is It, What’s the Fix?"

The over-classification of national security information has been a long simmering issue in Washington policy circles. But that debate was cast into the spotlight after 21-year-old Air National Guardsman Jack Teixeira was arrested in April for allegedly leaking reams of highly sensitive documents on the Internet. In May, members of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence introduced legislation aimed at reining in over-classification.

NPEC's paper published earlier this spring - two years in the making, and released weeks before Teixeira's arrest - has a wealth of information and examples of over-classification challenges, as well as recommendations for addressing them. So can Washington come together to address its secrets obsession? "Part of me is optimistic, part of me is, I wouldn't say cynical, but skeptical," Sokolski said.

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IARPA wants to use psychology to thwart cyber hackers Apr 25, 2023

A new Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Agency project is looking to use psychology to thwart would-be hackers. Many cyber attacks these days use basic human psychology to get people to click on a link, for example, as part of a "phishing" exploit. But IARPA thinks it can flip that paradigm on its head and embed the "cognitive biases" of hackers into network defenses. For an overview of the effort, I spoke with Dr. Kimberly Ferguson-Walter, the program manager for IARPA's Reimagining Security with Cyberpsychology-Informed Network Defenses (ReSCIND) program.

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How the Defense Intelligence Agency is embracing the cloud Apr 24, 2023

The Defense Intelligence Agency is in the early stages of making major upgrades to the federal government's top-secret network, the Joint Worldwide Intelligence Communication System (JWICS). DIA's "customers" - other federal agencies and military units -- increasingly want high-bandwidth, low latency digital services to be a part of JWICS. So DIA will be "expanding the highway" of JWICS by embedding cloud computing and other modern technologies into the top-secret network. For the latest, I spoke with Johanna “Jojo” Leasiolagi, senior technical advisor for DIA.

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NGA's 'Tearline' project and the future of open source in the intelligence community Mar 22, 2023

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency's "Tearline" project is a unique "open source" endeavor in the intelligence community. And its efforts aren't going unnoticed: Tearline recently won the inaugural "OSINT Unit of the Year" award from the OSINT Foundation. I spoke with Chris Rasmussen, the Tearline's founder and program manager, about the project's origins, what it's been up to lately, and its future as a potential OSINT trailblazer for the U.S. government.

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People with security clearances got a big raise in 2022 Mar 15, 2023

Compensation for individuals with security clearances increased by 7% in 2022. More than half of all cleared workers now make six figures, according to ClearanceJobs' annual Security Clearance Compensation Report. I spoke with ClearanceJobs President Evan Lesser and Senior Editor Jill Hamilton about the latest report, which also shows an uptick in remote and hybrid work opportunities for cleared talent.

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The NSA wants to help defense contractors up their cyber defenses Jan 26, 2023

The National Security Agency's Cybersecurity Collaboration Center opened nearly two years ago to help the defense industrial base and other critical organizations better secure their networks. The organization works with a couple hundred of companies today, and it wants to scale that to "thousands" this year, according to Kristina Walter, chief of DIB defense at the center, my guest for this week's episode.

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Modernizing the government's top-secret network Jan 11, 2023

The Defense Intelligence Agency is in charge of maintaining the federal government's top-secret network. That global system is on the cusp of a major overhaul. I spoke with DIA Chief Information Officer Doug Cossa about his agency's plans to modernize the IT network and how the intelligence community needs to adapt, in many ways, to modern technological realities.

Highlights include:

0:40: JWICS modernization

17:27: The role of cloud computing for JWICS and DIA

22:30: Risks in global telecom standards and opportunities for wireless tech in the IC

29:45: Desktop-as-a-service and telework

34:55: Artificial intelligence and machine learning

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How cyber threats, and threat intelligence, are changing Nov 30, 2022

A declassified National Intelligence Council Assessment from April 2020 says "China and other authoritarian governments are using cyber espionage, attacks and influence operations to extend the coercive reach of their ideological enforcement and political control efforts beyond their borders." How are cyber threats evolving? And how is cyber threat intelligence changing to keep up? I spoke with Jim Richberg, the former national intelligence manager for cyber, to discuss those issues and others.

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An interview with the IC's chief of diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility. Nov 16, 2022

The intelligence community has made strides in recent years across a range of diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility metrics. But the IC's latest demographic report shows that intel agencies still lag behind the broader federal workforce when it comes to the hiring and retention of minorities, women, and persons with disabilities. I spoke with Stephanie La Rue, the IC's first-ever chief of diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility, about how she's trying to bolster DEI&A across intelligence agencies.

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Does the IC need classified WeWorks? Nov 02, 2022

Congress is out-of-town for the mid-term elections, but when they come back, the annual intelligence authorization bill could get passed. There are a number of key provisions in this year's bill, including one that would allow more industry employees top receive clearance. Another would conduct a study of how agencies and industry utilize classified facilities. To break it down, I spoke with Larry Hanauer, vice president for policy at the Intelligence and National Security Alliance.

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How remote work has created more opportunities for 'insider threats' Sep 21, 2022

The theme of this September’s National Insider Threat Awareness Month is is "critical thinking in digital spaces" I spoke with Rebecca Morgan, deputy director of the National Insider Threat Task Force, about how new forms of social engineering, misinformation and phishing are increasingly being used to target the federal workforce and others.

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Cracking the supply chain security problem Sep 07, 2022

The National Counterintelligence and Security Center is among the many federal offices looking to shore up the security of U.S. supply chains. Jeanette McMillian is the NSCS's assistant director of supply chain and cyber. "Everything from software to semiconductors, pipelines to peanut butter, malware to meat packing, we have seen it all with regards to how global supply chains have impacted our lives," McMillian told me in today's show.

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The next-generation background investigation system Aug 24, 2022

The National Background Investigations Services program, or NBIS, has been described as the "lynchpin" to the federal personnel vetting reform efforts. The massive software project is aimed at both replacing legacy IT systems with modern functionality, institutionalizing new processes like continuous vetting, and bringing many personnel vetting systems together into one IT environment. To get the latest on the program's developments, I spoke with Jeff Smith, the executive program manager for NBIS at the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency.

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The NSA's view on "zero trust" cybersecurity Aug 11, 2022

The zero trust security concept has been around for more than a decade, but it's turned into a major buzzword in recent years. The federal government now has a zero trust strategy. The National Security Agency is also embracing the concept. I spoke with Kevin Bingham, the zero trust lead at the NSA, about what this whole zero trust thing really means.

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Elevating the open source community in the IC Jul 27, 2022

Open source intelligence, or OSINT, is often treated as an afterthought in the U.S. intelligence community compared to other forms of intel. Now, a group of former intelligence leaders are trying to change that. They are forming a new OSINT Foundation to help elevate the tradecraft, establish standards, and build a community around open source. I spoke with two of the foundation's leaders, Barbara Alexander and Eliot Jardines.

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How the IC can improve recruitment of individuals within foreign ties Jul 18, 2022

This episode features part two of an interview with Larry Hanauer, vice president for policy at the Intelligence and National Security Alliance. Larry discusses INSA's ideas for how the intel community can improve how it recruits and clears people with foreign connections.

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Why it can be a challenge to move highly cleared people around Jun 29, 2022

The security clearance process often poses a challenge for both government and industry when they want to move people around and bring new personnel onboard. That's especially true for the highest levels of clearance, where polygraph requirements and other inconsistent policies can bog things down for weeks and months. To break down the issue, I spoke with Larry Hanauer, the vice president for policy at the Intelligence and National Security Alliance, and Greg Torres, the director of personnel security at Booz Allen Hamilton, about INSA's new paper, "Improving Security Clearance Mobility: How to Save Time and Resources and Enhance Mission Outcomes."

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How the government is reforming the security clearance process Jun 15, 2022

Trusted Workforce 2.0 is the government's wholesale reform of the security clearance process. The idea is to make it easier for employees to move in and around government and industry, while also improving security. For more, I spoke with Heather Green, the assistant director of vetting risk operations at the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency. DCSA handles security clearance investigations for the vast majority of government, and it's taking a lead role in implementing Trusted Workforce 2.0.

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The State Department's intelligence arm has a new strategic plan May 18, 2022

Brett Holmgren is the assistant secretary of state for intelligence and research. The Bureau of Intelligence and Research, or INR, is unique in that it delivers intelligence analysis to advance diplomacy. And that principle has been central to the intelligence community’s efforts to downgrade and in some cases declassify intelligence about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to share it with partners and allies. We talked to Holmgren about INR's history, its role during the conflict in Ukraine, and INR’s new strategic plan.

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A conversation with the intelligence community's chief data officer May 04, 2022

Nancy Morgan spent the last three years as the intelligence community's chief data officer. In that time, the amount of information both collected and produced by intelligence agencies has grown exponentially. The IC is now rewriting its 2017 data strategy to help guide spy agencies in all aspects of how they use an ever growing amount of data. Morgan retired at the end of April, but first, she sat down with Justin Doubleday, as well as Jory Heckman, host of "All About Data," to discuss the IC's evolving data strategy, and why she thinks data isn't just a field for highly trained data scientists.

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How spy agencies use open source intelligence Apr 20, 2022

On today’s show, we take a look at how intelligence agencies are approaching open source intelligence or OSINT. There’s a rapidly expanding world of social media feeds, commercial satellite imagery, cell phone videos and other Internet-derived information that allow professional and amateur analysts alike to investigate events happening around the world. Organizations like Bellingcat have used this kind of information to extensively document Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, mapping incidents of civilian harm, debunking Russian disinformation, and investigating the use of cluster munitions and other weapons. But the intelligence community has been slower to adopt new open source tools and information. A January report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies found that the community has struggled to even define OSINT beyond the classic definition of publicly available media and press reporting.

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The intelligence community's science and technology outlook Apr 07, 2022

Emerging technologies like artificial intelligence and synthetic biology are offering new possibilities for how intelligence agencies carry out their missions. But rapid advances in technology, especially in commercial industry, also present challenges to the IC's technology adoption processes. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence is now seeking feedback on its new five-year S&T investment plan. John Beieler, the director of science and technology at ODNI, sat down with Inside the IC to discuss the new strategy.

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The evolving state of cyber threats in the Russia-Ukraine conflict Mar 23, 2022

It’s been four weeks since Russia invaded Ukraine, and despite expert predictions, there has yet to be a significant cyber campaign against the U.S. and its allies. But the White House is now warning it has “evolving intelligence” suggesting the Russian government is preparing cyber attacks on U.S. critical infrastructure. This comes at a time when the U.S. government’s relationship with the private sector on cybersecurity seems to be taking a turn toward better collaboration. To break it all down, we spoke with Tim Kosiba, the former head of the National Security Agency’s elite offensive cyber group, the Tailored Access Operations Unit. Tim is now CEO of bracket F, a subsidiary of the cybersecurity company Redacted.

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A former spy chief's view on privacy and security Mar 09, 2022

In this week's episode, we speak with former National Geospatial Intelligence Agency Director Robert Cardillo about a recent chapter he authored in the CIA's quarterly journal. The chapter, titled "GEOINT and the post-secret world," posits that "we are fast approaching the time in which technology will enable a continuous sensing of all of the world’s activity." What does that mean for privacy and national security? You can read the full chapter here: https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/oa-edit/10.4324/9781003164197-22/geoint-post-secret-world-robert-cardillo

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A new buying guide for commercial space capabilities Feb 23, 2022

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency is leading a new mandate for the intelligence community to turn to commercial sources of GEOINT first. NGA's new commercial strategy is being led by Dave Gauthier, director of commercial and business operations at the agency. Gauthier spoke with "Inside the IC" about efforts to forge a tighter relationship with the growing commercial space industry, and NGA's development of a new "commercial supplier matrix."

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Roles for commercial technology in one of the nation's most secretive intel agencies Feb 09, 2022

In the inaugural episode of Inside the IC, we look at how the National Reconnaissance office is trying to take advantage of a fast growing commercial satellite market. Pete Muend, the director of the National Reconnaissance Office's Commercial Systems Program Office, explains why the secretive agency is trying to work with new and innovative companies in areas like synthetic aperture radar. We also talk to Angie Petty, a senior principal analyst with Deltek, about how intelligence agencies are spending more on cloud computing, artificial intelligence and cybersecurity.

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