A New IC Data Roadmap

The collection, exploitation, and dissemination of data is foundational for any entity, but even more so for the U.S. Intelligence Community (IC).  Delivering on an announcement made last year, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) released the IC’s latest data strategy. The plan, an update from the IC’s original 2017 one, outlines the community’s data goals for the next two years.

The new strategy is critical for the IC and according to the document’s introduction, “To date, we have not significantly prioritized data as a strategic and operational IC asset. The central challenge remains that the IC is not fielding data, analytics, and artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled capabilities at the pace and scale required to preserve our decision and intelligence advantage.”

The data strategy stresses the need for the IC to access, curate and integrate data across its enterprise, as well as provide a sound platform for emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence.

When speaking of the upcoming strategy during the Intelligence and National Security Summit last September, IC Chief Data Officer Lori Wade stated that the document is meant to be deliberate in the planning of the end-to-end lifecycle of data.

The strategy centers on four main concepts to lead the IC in optimized data practices.

For contractors, the IC’s new data strategy emphasizes the need for external input, innovation and assistance. Samples of recent IC data-related acquisitions include an RFI from IARPA for a molecular-scale data storage and archiving solution. At the NGA, the agency issued an RFI for a data science platform to host specific datasets from a common repository to aide in the Economic and Security Division’s GEOINT mission.

Of the new strategy, Director of National Intelligence Avril Hanes states, “The IC Data Strategy will allow us to harness and accelerate our efforts in mutually reinforcing ways across the U.S. government, with our foreign partners and our private sector and academic partners, to make data interoperable and discoverable, and thereby unlock mission value and insight to ensure continued decision advantage and actionable intelligence.”