DIA Outlines 6 Tech Priorities for Machine-Speed Intelligence

The Defense Intelligence Agency and Special Operations Command are pushing for a faster, more integrated approach to intelligence and communications as adversaries increasingly threaten the networks that underpin modern warfare.  

Speaking at DoDIIS Worldwide in Tampa, Florida, Monday DIA CIO Edacheril Mathew, DIA Director Lt. Gen. James Adams and SOCOM Commander Adm. Frank Bradley emphasized a goal to deliver trusted information at machine speed while maintaining security and resilience in contested environments. 

“Not only is the speed and the scale changing, the capability is changing, the adoption is changing. And if we don’t adopt commercial technologies at the speed of innovation, we’ll be a glide slope to obsolescence, and a new world order will take place,” Mathew said.  

Defense Intel Asks and Operational Needs 

Mathew said DIA supporting the warfighter at machine speed requires focus on four priorities: content delivery, a platform to enable content creation rapidly, content security and a data environment that can collocate sensitive data in order to have content discovery for greater integration and interaction. 

Adams similarly called for technology that is “integrated, interoperable and secure from the ground up.” He said the intelligence enterprise has more data than ever before, but must become “exceptional at understanding, at speed and under pressure.”

He described a new era where strategic competitors are modernizing their militaries, growing their footprint and looking for advantages across domains. They’re competing in ways that may not look like traditional conflict: pressure campaigns, economic coercion, disruption and information manipulation.  

“All of it is meant to weaken the ties between us and our allies and slow our decision advantage,” he said. “The result is a world where the warning time can be short, the picture can be incomplete, but decisions will still have to be made, all with real consequences for our forces and for our partners.” 

Adams identified six capabilities DIA needs from industry and government partners to have “intelligence that keeps pace with the fight:” 

• Open-source intelligence, specifically, systems that sort, validate and connect information automatically, flagging when commercial satellite imagery, social media signals and shipping data are all telling the same story. 

• True intelligence convergence, meaning real interoperability with a common language and metadata standards. 

• Mature zero trust implementation.  

• A security capability enterprise members, partners and allies can all draw on. It should include identity management, encryption, monitoring and access control delivered as managed cloud-native services. 

• A virtual SCIF that is a secure cloud-enabled environment that gives the same assurance as a physical SCIF from multiple authorized locations. 

• Improvements to the Joint Worldwide Intelligence Communications System (JWICS) that can deliver automation that keeps operations sharp and efficient without compromising security.

Bradley also stressed the need for better interoperability between special operations forces and cyber partners. Historically, data sharing has moved at the speed of accreditation, which he called “the speed of paperwork.” 

“Most, if not all, special operations forces require non-SOF support. We never fight alone. Our formations are stitched together from allied special operations, interagency partners, the broader joint force and, frankly, the societies in which we are going to fight,” he said. “An interdependent team of operators, enablers and technical experts makes up this force. Success requires us to operate as one trusted ecosystem, a team of teams.” 

Looking ahead, Mathew warned that advances in quantum and “q-day” have the potential to break asynchronous encryption allowing undetectable malware in very sensitive systems. 

“If there’s one thing you can remember from this message: we have to get to post-quantum encryption. Our very way of life depends on it,” Mathew said. “This is our digital enigma moment. Dare I say, democracy and freedom are at stake.”