National security in the age of AI: How emerging technology is transforming defense and intelligence

AI is poised to revolutionize national security, but a failure to adapt could have disastrous results. This fireside chat featuring former Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence Sue Gordon and current CIA CTO Nand Mulchandani — moderated by Insight Partners’ Senior Advisor Nick Sinai — explores the opportunities and challenges of AI in a new era of strategic competition.

These insights came from our ScaleUp: AI event in October 2023, an industry-leading global conference that features topics across technologies and industries. Watch the full session below:

Transforming the intelligence landscape

Gordon emphasized that intelligence aims to uncover the truth, look beyond the horizon, and enable leaders to act proactively. She pointed out that in today’s world, technology is ubiquitous, and whoever can harness it creatively and swiftly has the upper hand. Regarding intelligence, she said, “To know the truth, to see beyond the horizon and to allow leaders to act before events dictate there is nothing about that mission, even though as you imagine doing it in 1947 when the National Security Act was formed, is probably not how you’re going to do it in 2023.”

“…how do you still provide something that allows leaders to know a little more and act a little sooner.”

Gordon also mentioned that the current geopolitical crises show the opportunities and challenges technology brings. She stated that intelligence “fundamentally is trying to provide decision advantage against a world that is now perfectly connected, everyone has everything — how do you still provide something that allows leaders to know a little more and act a little sooner.”

“We believe that AI is going to dramatically impact our business and the work that we do”

Mulchandani highlighted the importance of technology in intelligence work. He underscored the increasingly challenging environment for human intelligence due to ubiquitous technical surveillance and the changing nature of tradecraft, or the strategies and methods used by the intelligence community. Talking about AI, he said, “We believe that AI is going to dramatically impact our business and the work that we do. There’s just no question — we’ve known that for a while.”

Moreover, he explained how AI could help in different aspects of intelligence, such as open-source intelligence and human intelligence. He explained, “What we’re doing is doing very very deep and thorough experimentation and work with AI open source.”

The intelligence community encourages partnerships with startups and ScaleUps

Both Gordon and Mulchandani were positive about the potential of startups and ScaleUps contributing to the intelligence community’s work. Mulchandani mentioned the agency’s efforts to be more publicly accessible and to clarify its needs and requirements for potential partners. He added, “What we’re doing is trying to create the pathways in, and we know we’re also a bad customer because we don’t broadcast our requirements.”

Gordon advised startups and ScaleUps to understand the agency’s needs and how their products can fit into their architectures. She stated, “You cannot wait for the government to be good. Do two things, and you’ll be in good stead…you have to do enough work to know, to understand what outcome [your products] will produce.”