WASHINGTON \u2014 The head of the Defense Intelligence Agency worries that an issue that was officially cited as one of the U.S. failures in the 9\/11 attacks also could be a threat to America\u2019s ability to develop cyber counterintelligence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 9\/11 Commission cited \u201cfailure of imagination\u201d as the most important reason for the success of the attacks. The commission report said government officials lacked the imagination to link foreign students registering for passenger jet courses with the idea of a terrorist attack. The commission also attributed the success of the 9\/11 terrorists to failures in policing, management and capability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
DIA Director Lt. Gen. Robert Ashley Jr. recently noted that the key to developing cyber counterintelligence may not be fine-tuning America\u2019s existing cybersphere, but rather expanding it in order to foresee how adversaries\u2019 emerging technologies could be used against the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe lack the imagination to envision what some of these technologies could bring,\u201d Ashley said during the Oct. 16 \u201cHacking Democracy\u201d summit at the recent Zero Day Con global cybersecurity conference presented by Smarttech247. \u201cWe cannot let failure of imagination lead to a strategic surprise.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As a result of the same limited scope, he said, the United States could be markedly susceptible to a similar \u201czero day,\u201d or an attack without warning from an unanticipated source.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ashley used the example of cancer to show how lack of imagination could cripple American planning. The National Institutes of Health and many other researchers have been searching for a cure for cancer. \u201cBut what\u2019s the inverse?\u201d asked Ashley.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Adversaries could be \u201ccreating a strain that\u2019s literally impossible to cure,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The inverted methodology described by Ashley was not implemented prior to 9\/11, according to Peter Singer, a consultant for the DIA and author of \u201cLikeWar: The Weaponization of Social Media.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe were looking in the wrong places and at the wrong people for threats and missed the plot,\u201d said Singer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
War gaming and training designed in part by industry experts looking \u201cbeyond the usual suspects and scenarios beyond the ones we wish for\u201d could help the DIA start to look in the right places and at the right people, according to Singer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhile so much of the discussion of online threats has been on hackers targeting the networks, aka \u2018cyberwar,\u2019 just as dangerous and effective has been hacking the people on the networks, driving ideas viral through a mix of [online] \u201clikes\u201d and [personal] likes,\u201d said Singer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The DIA is now looking at how sectors other than the military can provide insight into cyber counterintelligence, a spokesman said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe have to understand commercial developments, what\u2019s happening in the business world, so we can understand how it may be used in the military framework,\u201d said James Kudla, the public affairs officer at the DIA. \u201cMany of these practices were developed for consumers\u2026 Now, we\u2019re seeing them be developed for a dual-use mode.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But while Ashley is concerned about DIA\u2019s lack of imagination, steps to address it have not yet been specified.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not a plan that\u2019s written down on a piece of paper,\u201d said Kudla. \u201cIt\u2019s an ongoing process.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The process consists of engaging with \u201cgovernment partners, partner nation allies, commercial vendors and academic centers,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ashley called finding imaginative solutions to preventing cyberattacks \u201ca team sport.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201c[Spreading ideas] is our strength,\u201d he said. \u201cIt is our asymmetric advantage and it will be our asymmetric advantage in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
How \u201cfailure of imagination\u201d continues to plague counterintelligence efforts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":80862,"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":10,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"coauthors":[7457],"class_list":["post-28596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cyber"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"6YE3VIMOUZHC7E7VVKAPZHPOTQ","arc_canonical_url":"\/dod\/2018\/10\/30\/the-threat-to-us-cyber-intelligence\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n