Science & Tech

What the CIA’s Tech Director Wants from AI

Dawn Meyerriecks says staying ahead of Russia and China isn’t as hard as getting U.S. leaders to listen to their own artificial intelligence analysis.

Science & Tech

Future Spy Satellites Just Got Exponentially Smaller

By changing the way microchips measure light, researchers are shrinking the size of space-based telescopes.

Science & Tech

State Department Has No Idea What It Costs to Give Security Clearances

Despite orders from Congress last year, Foggy Bottom can't say what clearances cost or how long they take.

Science & Tech

How Will The Pentagon Create Its AIs? The Algorithmic-Warfare Team Is Charting a Path

Over the next 36 months, an algorithmic-warfare team will draw up a model for splitting the work between government and industry.

Ideas

The Spies of the 'Five Eyes' Need to Speed Up Intel-Sharing

Nations must speed the dissemination of information to enable real-time responses and counter disabling cyber threats.

Ideas

The FBI’s Role in National Security

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has been reoriented toward counterterrorism in recent years, but continues to face charges of overreach.

Ideas

America’s Best Partner in Middle East HUMINT Needs Help

Jordan’s spies set the standard for the boots-on-the-ground intelligence sharing that is crucial to U.S. counterterrorism efforts.

Science & Tech

Detecting Secret Military Exercises With Micro Satellites, a How-To

The future of intelligence is small teams and tiny satellites. It’s not a future the U.S. will own exclusively.

Science & Tech

CIA's Cloud is 'Pretty Close' to Invincible, CIO Says

The agency wants to operate more like commercial companies, not the government, CIA CIO John Edwards said.

Science & Tech

The Mysterious Printer Code That May Have Led the FBI to the Alleged NSA Leaker

Many color printers embed grids of dots that allow law enforcement to track every document they output.

Policy

Devin Nunes Dives Back into the Russia Investigation

The California Republican supposedly stepped aside from the House Intelligence Committee’s Russia investigation. But on Wednesday, he used his power as chairman to issue subpoenas related to the inquiry.

Science & Tech

US Intel Community Launches Face-ID Contest

Wanted: algorithms that can identify people from security-camera footage.

Science & Tech

Who Are the Shadow Brokers?

What is—and isn’t—known about the mysterious hackers leaking National Security Agency secrets.

Science & Tech

Pentagon Mapmakers Want To Tap Mobile Ad Technology. Here's Why.

NGA is scoping private-sector technology at incubators in Boston, Austin and New York.

Ideas

The Government Wants You to Stop the Next Edward Snowden

New rules mean you could lose your security clearance if you don’t Say Something when you See Something.

Ideas

What Happens When Intelligence Agencies Lose Faith in the President?

If bureaucrats restrict the information they share with political leaders, the damage could prove deep and lasting.

Ideas

The Dangers of Presidential Indiscretions

President Trump had the legal right to declassify information—but by sharing sensitive intelligence with the Russians, he may have jeopardized national security.

Ideas

The Terrible Cost of Trump's Disclosures

The consequences of the president’s reported divulgence of top-secret codeword information to the Russians are only beginning.

Threats

CIA Opens a New Office To Watch North Korea

The first “mission center” launched since the spy agency’s 2015 reorganization, it is also the most narrowly focused.