The intelligence community has plenty of threats on its radar: rogue states with nuclear programs, terrorism, and, increasingly, rivalry from China and Russia. To address those myriad challenges, as a new National Intelligence Strategy report makes clear, the United States must foster innovation and strategy that incorporates new technology. Relying on past success is not enough.
As the report notes:
Those are threats that the government cannot afford to ignore. And if we don’t want to be caught playing second fiddle to our adversaries, we must channel good old American ingenuity and treat technological development as a national security priority.
The intelligence community knows this, and as the report puts bluntly:
Specifically, it calls for focus on artificial intelligence and automation.
Those are key areas of development where the U.S. is already facing stiff competition.
China, for example, has already made clear its plans to be a leader in new technologies with the Made in China 2025 initiate and its recent landing on the far side of the moon. Although China’s current development has been buttressed with purloined technology, as the Defense Intelligence Agency has warned that a consequence of Beijing’s “multifaceted approach to technology acquisition is a PLA on the verge of fielding some of the most modern weapons systems in the world. In some areas, it already leads the world.”
In order to maintain our dominant global position, we should heed these warnings. The U.S. is a force to be reckoned with because, along with our allies, we have dominated cutting edge technology development. Resting on our laurels and finding complacency in our current position leaves us vulnerable — and the world will not wait for Washington to catch up.
