Director of National Intelligence, J. M. McConnell
Open Source – The Source of First Resort
Mrs. Mary Margaret Graham introduces Mr. McConnell.
Mr. McConnell states that this speech is from the heart. He gives an overview of the community. He wants to leave the community with a much higher level of collaboration. We achieve considerably more when we work together. He describes the tension involved in change and that the tension needs to be there. He also wants to transform analysis to ensure that the final products that come out are the best possible analysis for the customers and the nation.
He illustrates that the financial community can serve as a model in that they clear people to work within their system within two weeks whereas the IC takes 6 months. The difference is the experiences we have been through with spies, whereas the financial community can secure their system through keystroke monitoring.
What we do best is foreign intelligence and is what we have done best through time. Foreign intelligence has been focused on the Cold War, but after 9/11 the enemies were foreigners but at the same time could be considered a US person. The foreign and domestic integration intelligence is the key that we need to focus on.
We need to focus on world class expertise and language. The threats come from diverse cultures and backgrounds. We are going to recruit into our community more first generation Americans.
He wants a more open and public dialogue with the American public and that is one of his goals.
We’ve always paid attention to Open Source, but the challenge is to add value. Having robustness in the ability to think through the value added as well as access to tools is important.
Mr. McConnell then goes on to describe what he sees as the biggest threats to the United States today (primarily terrorism).
