The IC’s Science and Technology Landscape

The Intelligence Community (IC) typically looks beyond its own resources, especially to industry and academia, to enhance its technological edge. As such, the office of Director of National Intelligence (ODNI, Science and Technology (S&T) office issued a comprehensive planning guidance laying out a roadmap of IC interests in the foreseeable future. Of the materials released in the planning guidance, the FY2022–2026 ODNI S&T Investment Landscape report provides direct insight to the IC’s future needs.

In particular, the report, “…lay[s] the foundation for generating meaningful, clearly articulated thrusts in areas critical for aligning IC S&T enterprise and partners’ pursuits with future intelligence and broader national security Needs. In this way, the Landscape will no doubt help better position the IC S&T enterprise to play its part in achieving the goals articulated in ODNI’s guidance and planning processes…”

The Needs:

The needs outlined in the report represent a collection of efforts obtained by a variety of S&T sources including IC subject matter experts, program managers, specialized customers and end-users. As such, the needs are categorized based on which parties would be best in successfully implementing a solution. Assigned categories include:

• Category Zero: IC-wide analytic tool and methodology challenges
• Category One: IC-wide S&T challenges that are best served by an individual Program Manager
• Category Two: IC-wide S&T challenges that are potentially served by more than one Program Manager
• Category Three: IC-wide S&T challenges that are best served by leveraging external and/or broader U.S. Government partners

Additionally, the needs were subcategorized based on 19 technology domains such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), data, forensics, computing, and so forth. A description for each technology domain is located on pages 11 to 15 of the report.

The below tables depict a sampling of the IC’s anticipated technology and science needs in the next few years. Tables are arranged by category, with each need classified by respective, applicable technology domains:

The needs are not meant to be prescriptive of specific technologies or technical approaches required for achievement. Rather, the needs serve as descriptive metrics of IC opportunities for contractors.

As such, the ODNI released a Request for Information (RFI) on February 28 inviting industry’s ideas on innovative technologies and methodologies to meet the needs listed in the report. Note that the landscape report is an attachment to the RFI. The RFI also requests feedback on the contents of the report and any needs beyond those listed in the document. Comments will be accepted through May 28.