For years, U.S. spy agencies have acknowledged they need a more diverse workforce to help understand increasingly complex threats and interpret foreign cultures.They are making progress toward that goal—except at the top.

Years of studies, recommendations and promises have had limited impact on reshaping the upper echelons of the U.S. intelligence community, comprising 17 civilian and military agencies and offices, according to current and former officials and workforce statistics.

“I remember that day as clearly as yesterday.”

It has been 19 years since the tragic attacks in New York, NY, Arlington, VA, and Shanksville, PA. Nearly 3,000 of our friends, family members, neighbors and colleagues never made it home that night.

For David Pan, a career intelligence officer who was inside the Pentagon on the fateful morning of September 11, 2001, these events changed his life forever. Pan was fortunate to make it out of the Pentagon alive; however, the emotional impact the day made on him is everlasting.

For auto racing fans around the world, the Indianapolis 500 evokes images of cars whizzing around the historic track at speeds north of 230 miles per hour. This century-old event held annually at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is known as the “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.”

What’s not known by many is the Indianapolis 500 has served as an important testing ground for America’s Intelligence Community and national security apparatus.

“Despite being shot in the back, war was the best experience I’ve ever had.”

Those are the words of a 30-year-old man who has spent more than 10 percent of his life in a military hospital recovering from an armor piercing sniper round.

His name is Justin Griffin, a former Sergeant in the United States Army who is a Purple Heart recipient and a current employee at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI).

Two research programs at the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Agency, commonly known as IARPA, are now undergoing evaluation to see if they may provide solutions to help counter the growing COVID-19 pandemic, IARPA director Catherine Marsh tells SIGNAL Magazine.

The Molecular Analyzer for Efficient Gas-phase Low-power INterrogation (MAEGLIN—pronounced Magellan) program has been developing sensors to detect harmful gaseous chemicals in the air. The goal is to detect weapons of mass destruction or chemical indicators of illicit activity, such as narcotics production. But now, the program is investigating how well its newly developed micro-gas chromatograph might work as a breath sensor to detect signs of acute respiratory distress syndrome, a life-threatening condition associated with COVID-19.