Dive Brief:

• Open source and analytics has already provided the Central Intelligence Agency a "major intelligence advantage," said CIA Director John Brennan at an Intelligence and National Security Alliance event, according to a Nextgov report. 
• The CIA operates the Open Source Enterprise wherein open source specialists analyze public data sets and merge them with classified data for the intelligence community. 
• Last fall, the CIA launched its Directorate for Digital Innovation (DDI), an effort to modernize its IT systems and "further operationalize its cyber capabilities." The Open Source Enterprise was one of three key components of the DDI.

Dive Insight:

Organizations that collect vast amounts of data sometime struggle with both its analysis and application. But the CIA seems to have figured out a formula that works for them, and has done so quickly.

The Open Source Enterprise has already allowed the CIA to get a more accurate view of world events, Brennan said, and he’s eager for more.

"We're trying to deploy more and more of these open source specialists into our mission centers," said Brennan, according to NexGov. "Having the ability to leverage those—the open source environment and the open source tools—and bring it together with your clandestinely acquired information is just so enriching in terms of how we're able to understand and create new knowledge."