Fostering Innovation in the Intelligence Community

Book excerpt: In response to the increasingly ubiquitous, asynchronous, and pervasive use of cyber technology in everyday life, unique threats to cybersecurity (CS) have emerged requiring innovative and systemic solutions. Of the potential threats, Ubiquitous Technical Surveillance (UTS) presents one of the most acute generalized vulnerabilities facing the broader Intelligence Community (IC), Department of Defense (DoD), and United States Government. While security systems and networks have attempted to adapt to meet these evolving threats, internal organizational structures, culture, and human behavior often lag behind due to the inherent challenges in changing these dynamic variables. It is crucial that scientific disciplines identify systemic and innovative behavioral countermeasures that are informed by sub-disciplines of the psychology and CS literature. Innovative strategies involve collaboration amongst experts from the domains of social psychology, game theory, Bayesian statistics, and the IC, which will be discussed in-depth. A special issue that pulls from cross-disciplinary professionals will have a broad impact for the IC and DOD eliciting wide readership and spurring needed innovation._____________________________________________________________________ "Cultivating a culture of innovation, though difficult, is important for any enduring organization. It's downright essential for the US Intelligence Community, which must stay one step ahead of adversaries on surveillance technologies and tradecraft to be effective. This collection of articles brings together insightful research and analysis from diverse domains, moving us closer to the deeper appreciation of innovation and culture that is so urgently needed."David Priess, Ph.D., former Central Intelligence Agency officer and author, The President's Book of Secrets