The U.S. intelligence community is attempting to transform the way it uses and handles digital information. Unlike much of their work, agency officials want you to know all about it.

The intelligence community’s second-in-command sees technology as a primary driver of geopolitical strength in the decades ahead, and she worries the U.S. will lose its edge unless national security agencies use tools like machine-learning to accelerate their operations.

WASHINGTON: The more we connect different devices together, and the more we trust those devices to make decisions for us, the more targets we give hackers.

Lateral Innovation, you say? As opposed to forward innovation? Why can’t it be both? Lateral Innovation (LI), a new division within the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, focuses on amplifying, accelerating, and maximizing innovative efforts across the Intelligence Community and wider U.S. government. What does that look like? For starters, we are launching a series of articles highlighting the innovative efforts across the Community. Consider this Q&A your introduction to both LI and this series. (Very meta, we know.)