IEEE Spectrum Q&A With IARPA Director Lisa Porter: “We’ve divided the agency into three offices, and those really explain how we parse the problems intelligence research is focused on: Smart Collection, Incisive Analysis, and Safe and Secure Operations. Those three thrust areas span the space of the intelligence problem. The first, Smart Collection: we want to dramatically improve the value of our collected data. It’s not enough to collect data…The second office is called Incisive Analysis, where we look at maximizing the insight we get from collections in a timely fashion. Analysts are drowning in reams and reams of data. It’s called the tsunami effect—the overwhelming amount of data and information that they have to analyze. How can they go through it all fast enough to provide decision makers with analysis in time?…The third office is called Safe and Secure Operations. Here we want to counter the capabilities of our adversaries that could threaten our ability to operate effectively in the networked world. That includes the challenge of cybersecurity…”