Ideas

Is the CIA Ready for the Age of Cyberwar?

Behind the most sweeping reforms in the agency’s history—and their limits

Ideas

The Next President’s Headaches, According to America’s Top Spy

Director of National Intelligence James Clapper discusses emerging challenges in U.S.-Russian relations, cybersecurity, and how his office views North Korea’s nuclear program.

Science & Tech

How One Intelligence Agency Is Opening Up to Startups

A invitation from the Pentagon's mapping arm could be the first of more outreach to early-stage private-sector companies.

Science & Tech

The US Needs One Cyber Defense Agency—Not Three, a Top NSA Official Says

With the job divided between NSA, FBI, and DHS, 'we need to rethink how we do cyber defense as a nation.'

Science & Tech

Got Something to Sell to the Pentagon? It's About to Get Easier

A new office just opened to help the Defense Department's high-tech agency buy more easily from first-time sellers.

Ideas

The Pentagon's Mapmakers Want to Offer Customers an Amazon-Like Experience

A National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency directorate is seeking better ways to custom-tailor geospatial information products.

Science & Tech

The CIA Says It Can Predict Social Unrest as Early as 3 to 5 Days Out

The reason: a dramatic improvement in analytics, cloud computing and ‘deep learning.’

Ideas

What to Do About Zero-Day Hacks? Try A Middle Road

A system of government incentives will keep us safer than trying to buy up all newly discovered vulnerabilities, or outlawing their sale.

Science & Tech

The Man in Charge of Stopping the Next Snowden

Moving past the summer of 2013 has proven difficult for the intelligence community.

Ideas

A Peek into French Signals Intelligence

France’s former top SIGINT spy confirms an advanced persistent threat and muses about a merger with German intelligence.

Science & Tech

The NSA Is Using Bomb-Defusing Software to Grow the Next Generation of Analysts

This year’s codebreaking contest has a twist: the college teams must remotely locate and neutralize a roadside bomb.

Science & Tech

Will NSA and CyberCom Split?

This isn’t the first time officials have considered dividing the agencies’ leadership or even putting civilians in charge.

Science & Tech

One of America's Spy Agencies Will Test Sentiment Analysis to Help Sniff Out Insider Threats

If the one-year pilot program is successful, a ‘full and open competition’ could follow to broaden the software’s use inside the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency.

Science & Tech

There’s a Big Loophole in the Pentagon’s Guide to Eavesdropping

The new rules reflect a shift in intel-gathering from phone-tapping to capturing conversations on the internet.

Ideas

Trump is Wrong About the Intelligence Community

Presidential candidates should refrain from uninformed and baseless claims that only undermine intelligence professionals.

Ideas

Why So Many Foreign Fighters Flock to ISIS

A look at the factors that motivate people to leave home and join faraway wars.

Ideas

Trump’s Plea to Russian Hackers Foreshadows a Dangerous Stance on NSA Surveillance

His call out to Russian hackers validates the worst suspicions of security-state critics.

Science & Tech

Pentagon Wants to Automate Social-Media Checks on Clearance Holders

The program would analyze public posts to help determine an employee's suitability for Defense Intelligence Agency classified work.

Science & Tech

OPM Updates Data Breach Information Website

The Office of Personnel Management has updated its website on the historic 2015 background check cybersecurity breach to make it easier for those affected to access information about the incident.

Science & Tech

Virtual Reality Comes to US Military's Mapping Agency

U.S. officials abroad may soon be able to use their smartphone cameras to help swiftly reconstruct a bomb scene for eyes wrapped in Oculus 3-D headgear back in Washington.