Ireland Degges
Artificial intelligence is a top priority for agencies across the U.S. government, and the Intelligence Community is all-in on AI-driven transformation. Though AI could be a game changer for intelligence organizations, the IC is still building the data-centric foundation these technologies require.
During the Potomac Officers Club’s 2024 Intel Summit on Sept. 19, a panel discussion titled “Driving Intelligence Outcomes: Strategic Data Enablement and AI in the IC” will bring together intelligence officials and industry leaders to consider strategies for progressing these important goals. Get to know these expert speakers below.
Meet the “Driving Intelligence Outcomes: Strategic Data Enablement and AI in the IC” Panelists
Ramesh Menon
Ramesh Menon currently serves as chief technology officer of the Defense Intelligence Agency. In this role, he leads technology and strategy planning and experimentation and oversees modern architectures — including the Joint Worldwide Intelligence Communications System — for DIA and the wider Intelligence Community.
He assumed his current position in March 2021, and before then, he was chief architect and CTO for IBM’s U.S. federal business, a role in which he focused on AI and cloud computing. His earlier executive positions include chief technologist and chief architect at Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory and chief enterprise architect for Blue Cross Blue Shield, among others.
Brian Schreffler
Brian Schreffler is the founder and CEO of Binary Knowledge Solutions, a company focused on helping clients more easily break down data to improve decision making capabilities. He previously served as CTO for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, a role he held for four years before stepping down in July 2024.
Schreffler carries more than three decades of experience in public sector positions, beginning his career in the U.S. military and later holding various roles within the Secret Service, Department of State and IC.
Jimmy Hall, Jr.
As chief information officer and director of the Technology & Innovation Office within the State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research, Jimmy Hall leads the organization’s information technology and communications activities. His primary focus in this role is maintaining the department’s top secret IT network and making sure it stays secure.
Prior to his appointment in January 2023, Hall served as acting CIO for the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency, and before then, he was deputy COP of the Defense Security Service.
Andrew Black
Andrew Black has served as technical director of emerging technologies (AI/ML and quantum) at Amazon Web Services since November 2021. His previous industry positions include director of state, U.S. Agency for International Development and Army programs at Gartner; CEO and founder of Navanti Group; and CEO of Alakai.
In addition to his role at AWS, Black is an adjunct faculty member at Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service and a venture partner at NextGen Venture Partners.
KC Wilberg
KC Wilberg, vice president of IC at Acuity, will moderate the panel. He will bring over 20 years of experience in national security-focused technology consulting to the discussion.
Wilberg was selected to lead Acuity’s recently established IC business unit in July 2023. Before joining the company, he served as vice president of Intel Application Solutions at CACI, where he developed strategy and led the delivery of services for a portfolio of multi-billion dollar IC programs. Prior to CACI, Wilberg spent a decade at L3 Technologies.
Before entering the private sector, Wilberg held leadership roles within the U.S. Special Operations Command and Joint Chiefs of Staff.
How the IC Data Strategy is Approaching AI
The IC Data Strategy 2023-2025 put forth a vision for the IC’s transformation into a data-driven organization. Its four strategic focus areas — perform end-to-end data management; deliver data interoperability and analytics at speed and scale; advance all partnerships for continued digital and data innovation; and transform the IC workforce to be data-driven — paint a picture of a modern, digitally enabled IC.
The strategy’s introduction notes fielding data, analytics and AI capabilities “at the pace and scale required to preserve our decision and intelligence advantage” as the “central challenge” the IC is facing when it comes to data.
Successful AI deployment is a desired outcome of the strategy, which states that achieving shared analytical modeling and using training data first supports the “increased adoption
of AI and automation at the point of data collection, acquisition or ingestion.” With these technologies, the IC could dramatically reduce the time it takes to ingest new datasets and make it easier for users to access this information.
The IC also views AI as a tool for cultivating partnerships. Its ability to improve data management, use, storage and security could enhance opportunities for collaboration with the private sector and academia.
Learn More at the 2024 Intel Summit
The “Driving Intelligence Outcomes: Strategic Data Enablement and AI in the IC” panel will offer you the opportunity to get even more details on how IC officials and their industry partners are approaching AI implementation.
This panel will not be the only AI-focused discussion at the 2024 Intel Summit. Another panel, titled “OSINT and AI: Industry as an Enabler,” will take a deep dive into the ways in which open source intelligence, AI and public-private collaboration intersect and what these relationships mean for the IC as it presses forward with its efforts to adopt cutting-edge technologies.
Don’t miss your chance to gain exclusive access to these insights! Visit the Potomac Officers Club website to register for the 2024 Intel Summit.
