ODNI’s Information Technology Guidance Urges Intelligence Community to Advance Cloud, AI Initiatives

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence has issued its inaugural road map to guide the Intelligence Community’s decision-making on information technology transformation, with specific targets on program implementation. 

The 23-page guidance, titled “Vision for the IC Information Environment: An Information Technology Roadmap,” focuses on five areas, each with key initiatives, such as enhancing the cloud environment and advancing artificial intelligence at scale.

On cloud environment optimization, the road map recommends that IC members create during fiscal year 2025 an approach to determine which methodology and service provider would be most suited to meet their specific needs. 

To advance AI use, one step that the guidance suggests is for the IC to identify in FY 2027 the critical skills for its IT workforce, such as quantum computing, and set policies and incentives to help recruit and retain talent in the fields. 

All 18 IC elements unanimously endorsed the roadmap, which was developed from the recommendations of over 100 technical personnel across the community, ODNI said.

Adele Merritt, IC chief information officer at ODNI and a speaker at a past Potomac Officers Club event, said the road map provides the IC with “a unified vision for investments” that must be made for the United States to maintain its decision-making advantage against adversaries. With the unprecedented technological changes, it is now the time for the IC to make major strategic investments in its core IT infrastructure, she added.