The Department of Defense has had some success in using new approaches to more effectively buy technology and services. Can the intelligence community follow suit?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That\u2019s a key goal at the three- (and four-) letter agencies in charge of U.S. intelligence operations and spy powers, where officials are scrambling to keep pace with commercial technologies. Further complicating matters, they\u2019re doing so against a backdrop of fast-changing, futuristic capabilities and public sensitivity to the government\u2019s collection and use of personal information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe are at the point of changing times \u2026 for us to stay in business we have to be part of the driving force,\u201d George Barnes, deputy director of the National Security Agency, said at an April 10 event held in Arlington, Virginia, by the Intelligence and National Security Alliance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Changing the acquisition cycle to take advantage of commercial artificial intelligence, big data, cyber and other buzzy capabilities is critical, Barnes said. And while it\u2019s \u201cexhilarating,\u201d it\u2019s also \u201cdaunting\u201d and a challenge for government bureaucracy to keep up, he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The event coincided with Capitol Hill testimony from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg related to widespread data privacy issues, Barnes said at NSA there\u2019s \u201ca dramatic recognition\u201d of the role privacy concerns play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Existing \u2013 and potentially evolving \u2013 rules for data collection and storage are \u201cintricacies that complicate the integration of new technologies\u201d that also remain compliant with federal authorities, Barnes said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Machine-powered government overreach was also a subject of discussion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency Deputy Director Justin Poole downplayed scenarios in which artificial intelligence overruns the government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019re in this baby-step approach, but full-blown AI running Defense or the intelligence community is not something we\u2019re even close to,\u201d Poole said. \u201cAutomation, augmentation, machine learning \u2013 a lot of work needs to be done there … Those things are doable and trainable and we\u2019re using them now to help analysts deal with the deluge of supply coming at them. We don\u2019t have enough eyeballs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Officials are taking a multi-fold approach to reinventing acquisition, including working to institutionalize innovation within agencies and getting creative with existing buying powers. At more than one agency, including NGA, leaders are ordering internal restructuring to better take advantage of skills and talent, engage with outside players more effectively and improve processes up and down the chain of command.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201dWe need new and better ways of using the existing acquisition processes we all know and love \u2026 they don\u2019t have to be as cumbersome as they have been,\u201d Poole said. \u201cThere are ways to do things a little more innovatively. And we have to take advantage of all the different pathways \u2026 we have to embrace that kind of mentality.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The slow pace of acquisition isn’t the government’s only problem buying new technology.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":55779,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":15,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[106,109,29,15,32],"tags":[],"coauthors":[2772],"class_list":["post-23536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-brief","category-geoint-newsletters","category-home","category-intel-geoint","category-newsletters"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"7V62OGZWWJCNTKQHSME25XG4ZE","arc_canonical_url":"\/intel-geoint\/2018\/04\/10\/big-brother-robot-overlords-and-intelligence-acquisition-reform\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n