The message seemed counterintuitive for an event focused on cybersecurity, but one of the country’s most important intelligence agencies wants to make it easier to get inside its building and access its networks.
“In this new age of GEOINT, we wall ourselves off at our own risk,†National Geospatial Intelligence Agency Director Robert Cardillo told a crowd at America’s Center on Monday, using the industry slang term to refer to the geographic and mapping data his agency gathers and interprets.
of north St. Louis real estate so the NGA can build its new western headquarters, Cardillo’s message underscores the other major change underway at the agency, this one cultural.
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While the $1.7 billion campus with 3,100 employees is expected to have significant effects in an area that saw disinvestment for decades, the impact from the NGA’s emphasis on building more partnerships with mapping tech companies and training and research institutions could also be major. If companies cluster here to meet the NGA’s need to analyze a growing torrent of data, they could cement the region as a hub for geointelligence talent.
Many within that community were in St. Louis last week for a gathering of intelligence agency professionals and the contractors who work for them. Hundreds of people in the industry, including Cardillo and other intelligence community leaders, mingled downtown during the .
The focus this year was cybersecurity and the growing threats to the networks that control infrastructure and intelligence gathering and dissemination. Despite that theme, Cardillo laid out that he argues is necessary to leverage private sector innovation and keep pace with technology.
NGA’s mission has shifted from finding the scarce — that perfect satellite image — to processing an overwhelming amount of visual data. By 2037, Cardillo estimated that the NGA, an agency of about 15,000 people, would need 8 million analysts to keep pace.
“That’s just not practical,†Cardillo said. “We need to work with industry to augment and automate what we can.â€
Key to the effort is the design of the It’s arduous for those without security clearances to get inside the current headquarters on Second Street near the Anheuser-Busch brewery. That makes collaborating with the companies and startups difficult.
“When we invite them in, it’s a process,†Susan Pollmann, NGA program director for the new campus, said in an interview. “I can’t just call you and say come over and have lunch with me next week.â€
Pollmann described the agency’s desire to establish zones within the new headquarters, expected to be ready for move in by 2024, where public access is allowed. Unclassified areas would let more application developers help the agency build programs to analyze its data without compromising the more sensitive intelligence the NGA gathers.
Plans call for more than just physical divides. Currently, guests who are granted access to NGA facilities can’t bring in their wireless devices because of security concerns, and even staffers must often physically plug in to the agency’s network.
If the agency hopes to collaborate with app developers and other companies trying to solve problems for NGA systems, it needs to wall off the portion of its network containing the most sensitive intelligence — sort of like airlocks for data. Pollmann said plans call for enabling wireless throughout the new headquarters.
“We are planning work spaces where we can enable or disable the network security domains in the areas without having to do physical changes to the facility,†Pollmann said. “That’s one of the things NGA has been challenged with over the years. Anytime we need to change a space, change a security domain in a space, it’s a major upheaval. It takes months and months and millions of dollars to do that.â€
Cardillo wants to go one step further and trade portions of NGA mapping data for application and software development. That idea still needs congressional approval, he said in an interview. But the larger initiative of designing a wireless campus and a more accessible network is moving ahead and could offer a blueprint for other government agencies.
“We can be a test bed for the rest of the intelligence community,†Cardillo said.
Proximity to the customer
In the meantime, many companies that work with the NGA have established a presence in tech hubs such as the Cortex Innovation District in the Central West End or the T-Rex tech co-working building downtown. The NGA houses several of its employees in Cortex to work with contractors.
FEDITC, a San Antonio cybersecurity and information technology company that contracts with the government, has had an office near Scott Air Force Base for years. It opened a satellite office in Cortex this year for a team of close to 10 people after it won a new contract with the agency.
“We’re following their lead, we’re working where they want to work,†said Jason Volle, a program manager for FEDITC.
Esri, a major geographic information systems company based in California, has had a presence in St. Charles since 1991 as part of a long relationship with the NGA and big agricultural company clients. It, too, opened a Cortex office in recent months to work with NGA staffers.
Chris Albert, director of Esri’s intelligence business development, said that more accessibility to the NGA could lead to more competition for his company, but that Esri would benefit from easier interaction with NGA systems. The agency doesn’t have the time to develop all of its own technology anymore, he said.
“I think it’s a necessity for the (intelligence) community to be able to move fast enough to keep pace with technology,†Albert said.
Boundless, another geographic information systems developer, recently moved its local office from Cortex to the T-Rex incubator downtown. The New York-based company has grown its presence here from just a handful of people to about 30 employees, CEO Andy Dearing said, and it announced a $36 million NGA contract in April. The T-Rex offices offer plenty of space for “mapathons†and programmer meetups, which the NGA sometimes attends, he said. He expects more geographic information systems companies will begin eyeing St. Louis as the community continues to build on itself.
“The industry realizes close proximity to the customer is important,†Dearing said. “I think it’s only going to continue.â€
While there is a strong talent pool already, Cardillo said the agency is looking to develop its future workforce here. It’s now working with higher education institutions such as Washington University and St. Louis University, and it is reaching out to school districts to encourage science and technology education. The NGA also recently engaged LaunchCode, the philanthropic coder training organization started by Square co-founder Jim McKelvey, to help develop local talent, Cardillo said.
“We’re placing a bet on St. Louis,†Cardillo said. “And it’s a 100-year bet.â€