(US & Canada) VIDEO | We Aim to Unlock Mission Value From Data at Speed and Scale — Intelligence Community CDO, Office of the Director of National Intelligence

Lori Wade, Intelligence Community Chief Data Officer, Office of the Director of National Intelligence, speaks with Kurt Rohloff, Co-founder and CTO of Duality Technologies, in a video interview about how Open Source Enterprise is impacting the digital and data innovation of the future, and data strategies to ensure that the intelligence community can continue to thrive in the digital age.

Wade begins by stating that she has been involved with Open Source Enterprise (OSE) for a while. It is a United States Government organization dedicated to open-source intelligence. She points out that with the growth of 5G, the Internet of Things, and the pandemic, data has been created at an exponential rate.

As the Open Source Enterprise plays a role in the Intelligence Community, it is important to note that everything from data privacy, civil liberties, and responsibilities remain the same, says Wade. Therefore, to keep up with the ongoing digital and data innovation, she is working on a data strategy to make sure that the business is done in a mission-agnostic way.

Next, Wade emphasizes the need to use the data the organization collects and make sure it is discoverable. She states that the goal of the strategy is to unlock mission value at speed and scale. She also stresses that the volume of data along with available technology allows for capabilities like never before to get the best value from the data.

In continuation, Wade focuses on the policy and standards required to maintain the data’s provenance and lineage along with the quality. The aim is to stay agnostic to the tools and avoid getting caught up in the hype of AI, she adds.

Moving forward, Wade mentions that her team has the responsibility of having explainable and traceable analytic tradecrafts and standards. To accomplish this, they need to have the data management established first so they can have machine-to-machine behavior, traceability, and explainability throughout the process.

Thus, she works to get the data to a place where it can be used with any AI tool. Her focus is to ensure quality data is available in great volumes for AI model building, training, testing, and operation.

Then, Wade refers to the Future Now Series in Austin, where she brought together major organizations and academic institutions to discuss the national security impact of the next evolution of the internet and immersive technologies.

She maintains that her team is constructing an Intelligence Community Strategy for Immersive Technologies, which involves a critical component pathway that incorporates AI and other elements.

Additionally, Wade mentions working with Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA), S&T, and others on a new program by the DNI. She also speaks of a data pilot created while leveraging private organizations that already have relationships with IARPA.

Such collaborations bring together real mission challenges and communities, says Wade. This talent exchange allows officers to work in the private sector in a defined amount of time, across security levels, integrating research, science, and tech communities into what Wade calls, “data now” and “mission now.”

In conclusion, she states that the team built a concise document for the data strategy which is focused on the future and rooted in the present. The IC has already begun enacting the plan and to go even further, the CEO of every IC element is working on the action plan.

Wade also stands up a Data Future Group to consider the strategy in the coming years, evaluating the trends, and studying what is being done in collaboration with the private sector. The implementation and execution of this strategy are backed by a one-year action plan and will continue beyond that.

CDO Magazine appreciates Lori Wade for sharing her invaluable insights with our global community.