The Role of Open Source Information in U.S. National Security

With enormous amounts of data commercially available today, it’s not just the intelligence community that has access to information that can be vital to our national security. Information about what governments and private individuals are doing is in the hands of private companies via satellites and social media, and it is growing. Could effective use of such data help make us more secure? Should our government have an entity to evaluate this “open-source data” to inform our decision-making on national security issues? What should be the relationship between the government and the private sector when it comes to the information that is gathered? How can key data be protected? One of America’s leading and most thoughtful experts on these crucial questions, Kristin Wood, will help us decipher the issues and will offer recommendations. A 20-year veteran of the CIA, recent fellow at Harvard University, and now the CEO of her own tech startup, Kristin will provide her insights on using private sector open and commercial data to help meet our country’s international challenges…

Dr. Kristin Wood is a leading voice in the open-source community, advocating for harnessing the power of private-sector open and commercial data to better understand the world, its opportunities, and its challenges. She spent 20 years at the CIA, where she worked and led teams following five wars, delivered the Presidential Daily Brief (PDB) to senior Administration officials, and gained extensive experience in high-consequence analysis, operations, and open-source innovation and technology. Ms. Wood was selected for the Agency’s Senior Intelligence Service and finished her career at the CIA as the Deputy Director of the Innovation & Technology Group at the CIA’s Open Source Center.

Currently, Ms. Wood is the CEO and co-founder of August Interactive, a deep tech start-up gaming studio that is building personalized, immersive games with purpose, offering players positive outcomes, new skills, and a deeper connection to their communities. She believes gaming and extended reality are critical to our economic future.

Ms. Wood serves on the advisory boards of numerous deep tech start-ups and venture capital firms. She recently completed a fellowship at the Intelligence Project at Harvard University’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs where she focused on climate and the art of the possible for open source. She is an emeritus advisory board member for the International Spy Museum.

Ms. Wood graduated from Occidental College with an A.B. in Political Science.