The Defense Intelligence Agency is using more open source data than ever before, but one of its top leaders says the DIA aims to develop a “data literate” workforce to analyze the growing stock of information. He said that
Greg Ryckman, DIA's deputy director for global integration, said DIA's open source collection efforts have expanded significantly over the past 20 years. DIA is tasked with analyzing foreign defense and military capabilities.
“When I joined the intelligence community more than 20 years ago, open source was like salt on top of your meal. At some point, you put sauce on top of it,” he said. Rickman said in a webinar hosted by. and the National Security Alliance. “And today, open source is 85% to 90% of what we're focused on. It's the main course from now on.”
Rickman's comments are consistent with a new open source intelligence strategy announced by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the CIA earlier this spring. The goal of this strategy is for government agencies to use his OSINT as a “first” source of information. It also requires developing a cadre of OSINT experts.
DIA is leading the military's use of open source data. Ryckman said one of the issues the DIA faces with his OSINT is the number of personnel needed to sift through public and commercial data to find useful information. .
“One of the things I struggled with when I was director of analytics was that because of our dependence on open source and how much we used it, we weren't necessarily experts in open source collections; “There were a lot of analysts who realized it was a home, all source analysts,” Rickman said.
DIA recently established an Open Source Intelligence Integration Center. The agency is currently creating a new profession specifically focused on open source collections.
“The open source collection discipline is a big change, and we're working towards it,” Rickman said.
However, DIA continues to face challenges in processing, leveraging, and distributing the increasing amount of data available.
“If you had asked me 10 years ago what our biggest challenge was analytically, I might have said, 'We need more information and data,'” he says. “Let me tell you this: Our analysts are just overwhelmed by what's coming in.”
Rickman said DIA is focused on creating a “data literate workforce.” But he acknowledged that the agency's technology and culture can still pose challenges for data-savvy employees.
“One of the things that I've certainly seen is that you bring in people who are very data literate, they break into our systems, and they find out that the systems are not data-friendly,” Rickman said. said. “And they get very frustrated. So we have to find a way to not only have a literate workforce, but to enable them to do their jobs.”
The new OSINT strategy calls for increased open source data sharing and the development of more advanced tools to make better use of the information. His 2023 Data Strategy for the Intelligence Community also sparked efforts to hire a data-savvy workforce and use more advanced technologies such as automation and artificial intelligence.
Rickman said DIA is reaching a stage where machines and analysts can work on problems at the same time. “Some of the tools we've built now provide automated analysis based on algorithms that we've vetted and validated, and that meet a threshold to say, 'This meets my confidence level.' We are producing products that “He said. “That's just the tip of the iceberg.”
But he added that “bureaucracy” is preventing intelligence agencies from moving forward with some of these new initiatives.
“If I were a young analyst, or someone who was thinking of doing this for a living, I would look to the intelligence community and the DIA to create an environment where I could take advantage of all these new capabilities and tools,” Rickman said. he said. “We need to get people at the mid-to-senior level to buy into that as much as the juniors coming in.”
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