Summary of Amy B. Zegart's Spies, Lies, And Algorithms

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.

Book Preview: #1 The CIA has recently started tweeting, and the world is seeing how this agency, known for its secrecy, has a sense of humor. AI is changing both commerce and defense in ways that could destabilize social orders and alter the global distribution of power.

#2 The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the development of many new technologies, some of which are good, but others that could be used for destructive purposes. America is now simultaneously powerful and vulnerable to a wide array of dangers, all moving at the speed of networks.

#3 The second challenge of the digital age is data. Intelligence is a sense-making enterprise. Agencies like the CIA gather and analyze information to help policymakers understand the present and anticipate the future. But data is democratizing, and American spy agencies are struggling to keep up.

#4 The intelligence playing field is leveling, and not in a good way. Intelligence collectors are everywhere, and government spy agencies are drowning in data. This is a radical new world, and intelligence agencies are struggling to adapt to it.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Feb 28, 2022
• ISBN: 9781669354208

IRB Media

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Book preview

Insights on Amy B. Zegart's Spies Lies and Algorithms

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 5

Insights from Chapter 6

Insights from Chapter 7

Insights from Chapter 8

Insights from Chapter 9

Insights from Chapter 10

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

The CIA has recently started tweeting, and the world is seeing how this agency, known for its secrecy, has a sense of humor. AI is changing both commerce and defense in ways that could destabilize social orders and alter the global distribution of power.

#2

The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the development of many new technologies, some of which are good, but others that could be used for destructive purposes. America is now simultaneously powerful and vulnerable to a wide array of dangers, all moving at the speed of networks.

#3

The second challenge of the digital age is data. Intelligence is a sense-making enterprise. Agencies like the CIA gather and analyze information to help policymakers understand the present and anticipate the future. But data is democratizing, and American spy agencies are struggling to keep up.

#4

The intelligence playing field is leveling, and not in a good way. Intelligence collectors are everywhere, and government spy agencies are drowning in data. This is a radical new world, and intelligence agencies are struggling to adapt to it.

#5

The third challenge posed by emerging technologies is secrecy. Until now, American spy agencies didn’t have to interact with outsiders, and they didn’t want to. But secrecy is becoming more dangerous in the digital age, because it blurs the boundaries between geopolitics and economics.

#6

The new world of intelligence is one in which agencies must find new ways to work with private sector companies to combat online threats and harness commercial technological advances.

#7

Intelligence agencies are still working to rebuild trust, as the first neither confirm nor deny tweet from the CIA went viral. While open-source information has always been important, secrets have reigned supreme inside America’s intelligence agencies.

#8

The American intelligence community is confident that the Russian government directed the recent compromises of e-mails from US persons and institutions, including from political organizations. The recent disclosures of alleged hacked e-mails on sites like DCLeaks. com and WikiLeaks and by the Guccifer 2. 0 online persona are consistent with the methods and motivations of Russian-directed efforts.

#9

Being an outsider has both advantages and disadvantages. On the one hand, I cannot examine what the classified record actually says about pivotal intelligence events. On the other hand, an outsider’s perspective can bring