Innovations & technologies

Intelligence Technology Is a Double-Edged Sword

From the outer space environment of the moon to the virtual realm of cyberspace, technology challenges have the potential to vex the intelligence community. Many of the tools that the community is counting on to accomplish its future mission can be co-opted or adopted by adversaries well-schooled in basic scientific disciplines. So U.S. intelligence officials must move at warp speed to develop innovations that give them an advantage over adversaries while concurrently denying foes the use of the same innovations against the United States.

Over the past few decades, the U.S. intelligence community has excelled at keeping up with technology advances to where they are key enablers to espionage and counterespionage, offers Bob Gourley, co-founder and chief technology officer of OODA LLC. But now, technologies are changing so quickly that adversaries are able to even the score. And they are learning what the United States has been adept at doing—turning national security technology against its host.

Gourley uses the acronym CAMBRIC to describe the future of information technology. While the word in common usage refers to a finely woven cloth, the acronym’s letters stand for cloud, artificial intelligence (AI), mobility, big data, robotics, the Internet of Things (IoT) and cybersecurity. The intelligence community is directly in the crosshairs of its elements, he says.