(US & Canada) VIDEO | Individuals From All Disciplines Need High Data Acumen and Literacy — Intelligence Community CDO, Office of the Director of National Intelligence

Lori Wade, Intelligence Community Chief Data Officer, Office of the Director of National Intelligence, speaks with Kurt Rohloff, CTO and Co-founder of Duality Technologies, in a video interview about collaborating with the private sector and academia for digital and data innovation, the creation of the IC Front Door, data privacy issues, strategizing end-to-end data management, remodeling work ways for the current and future workforce,  developing human capital interest, being aligned with the CIO community, and building a zero-trust architecture.

Initiating the conversation, Wade highlights a focus area that furthers digital and data innovation to create a shift in mindset within the intelligence community. As the community has been successful in research and development, science, and technology, she explains that working with the private sector and academia in a different light is necessary.

To fulfill this, the ‘IC Front Door’ was created, which enables companies to express capabilities and services they offer to match requirements within the intelligence community, says Wade. This innovative approach allows companies to partner with the Intelligence Community in ways that were never explored before.

Next, Wade mentions hosting an event in Austin that brought together the private sector, academia, organizations, and the Intelligence Community to discuss the topic of immersive technologies, the metaverse, and how these innovations are progressing from a data standpoint.

In continuation, she states that technologies like 5G, the Internet of Things, ChatGPT, large language models, and the metaverse have all been building and creating a tsunami of data. Consequently, Wade is concerned about national security and data privacy and is looking for opportunities to use these technologies to help with end-to-end data management and operability.

Furthermore, Wade is concerned about the need to shift how work is done about the implementation of data and digital innovation. She points out that individuals need a higher level of acumen and literacy with data regardless of the discipline they work in.

The focus is on bringing the current and future workforce up to speed on being able to work with data, emerging technologies, and understanding how data looks in the future, says Wade.

Delving deeper, she mentions working in several cross-intelligence community working groups to assess the future of work in the Intelligence Community. By following existing definitions of data to transform it into useful intelligence, knowledge workers can manage data and work to elevate its fidelity.

In addition, anticipated development standards need to support open development securely with an understanding of laws, privacy, and civil liberties, she adds. These issues require a clear strategy to understand the structure of the workforce and how work will be conducted in the future.

Moving forward, Wade states that in addition to creating a new IC Chief Business Analytics position, her focus is on developing the Intelligence Community’s human capital initiatives and using business data for recruitment and retention.

Further, she has undertaken a study to have a better understanding of the five generations currently working in the IC and what they may need to do to recruit and keep Gen Z. According to Wade, there are numerous opportunities in the IC to work on different aspects of national security involving climate change and collaborate globally.

This may pique interest in a younger generation if they understand how the work is done and have the opportunity to be involved in various aspects throughout a career. Wade wonders how the government can best prepare itself to receive digital and data natives, considering technological and internet advances.

She proposes that people need to elevate their acumen in their respective areas, maintain relevance to evolving technologies, and replicate the same understanding in their work.

Thereafter, Wade ensures that the team is 100% integrated with the CIO community in building a zero-trust architecture. They have identified several pillars of the zero-trust strategy, including a data pillar. The data pillar is essential to freeing and unlocking data. Moreover, it provides for end-to-end data management, attribute and identity management, security, systems, and people, all of which must be connected with data.

The data pillar must also have providence and lineage, handling instructions, metadata, and attributes that are machine-readable, says Wade. She continues that the data pillar must meet compliance conditions, and any data that fails to meet these standards has to be deleted manually.

In conclusion, Wade ensures that everything is done from a data standpoint and aligns with the zero-trust architecture.

CDO Magazine appreciates Lori Wade for sharing her invaluable insights with our global community.