Luncheon Discussion on the Power of Open Source Intelligence

Join a luncheon discussion on open-source intelligence with former CIA Officer Kristin Wood. We will discuss how the power of open source intelligence impacts the private sector and intelligence community. 

According to the World Economic Forum, we are in the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the world’s datasphere is growing. Every minute of the day, 5.9 million searches run through Google, 16.2 million text messages are sent, 167 million TikTok videos are watched, and 6 million people shop online.  According to the International Data Corporation, worldwide data will grow by 61% in 2025.  For U.S. national security to thrive in this new era, the intelligence community will need better access to – and understanding of – data and insights from open-source systems outside of the U.S. government purview at the speed and scope of mission demands.

Digital interconnectivity already powers much of the international economy, with thousands of companies collecting, buying, and selling massive amounts of data to better understand risk, explore opportunities, and make strategic decisions. Companies such as Starbucks, Disney, and Dow Chemical all have open-source units to help them understand the market, protect their people and facilities, inform their decisions, and protect their brands.

Speaker Background:

During her 20-year CIA career, Kristin Wood served in the director’s area and three agency directorates – analysis, operations, and digital innovation – leading a wide variety of the agency’s missions in positions of increasing authority.  Among her key agency assignments, Ms. Wood served as Deputy Chief of the Innovation & Technology Group at the Open Source Center (OSC). She led OSC’s open-source IT and innovation efforts to extract meaning from big data by guiding multi-disciplinary teams of analysts, data scientists, engineers, programmers and developers in creating tools, methodologies and infrastructure for the future.  

Ms. Wood also led the analytic team in the Office of the Director of Central Intelligence, partnering across CIA to present the CIA Director and the agency’s most senior leaders with the intelligence they needed to represent the agency with the White House, Congress, and foreign partners. Ms. Wood founded and led a new regional Directorate of Operations division focused on the Middle East as its Deputy Chief, the first analyst ever selected for this honor. As the Bush Administration was considering whether to go to war, Ms. Wood was asked to lead the team examining al-Qai’da’s ties in the Middle East in the Office of Terrorism Analysis in the Counterterrorism Center. Ms. Wood served a long stint as a briefer for the President’s Daily Brief, serving the Vice President’s National Security Advisor and frequently the Vice President in the lead up to and after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.