Contagions and their higher order effects

Anyone who attends conferences or tradeshows on a routine basis is painfully aware of the risks of common illness created by bringing thousands of strangers together in a small series of rooms for several days – especially when programs seemed entirely designed to keep participants on the move, and consuming either the typical rubber chicken plates – or worse yet – boxed meals.

Thus it was from the recent DNI OSINT conference. There seems to our (admittedly anecdotal sample) that most attendees last week have fallen ill within a short number of days. Of course, there has been significant overlap with enough other events within the relatively small conference circuit for intelligence professionals, creating a more ideal environment for incubating pathogens. After all, September has been the INSA’s Analytic Transformation, NDIA Disruptive Technology, DNI OSINT, and DNI Proteus conferences.

However, while this year’s sicknesses are merely the usual expected issue, our Red Cell attuned eyes do wonder what the potential impact of a targeted, small scale biological attack would be for such an event – particularly given the highly cross disciplinary, interagency nature of these kinds of conferences. Of course, this is exactly the value which brings participants together, but a longer incubation strain could inflict significant damage.

This potential for damage is nonetheless offset by the nature of who typically attends such conferences. After all, the working level grunts usually can’t break away for an event, nor get travel approvals through layers of management. Perhaps the net result might even be an increase in productivity, assuming that the chain of infective transmission doesn’t spread too widely within the vaults once participating managers are back at their home agencies…

While this has been an idle thought experiment, and we are rarely given to commenting on the reasons for our little band’s absence from blogging, suffice it to say our group’s interest in the abstract is driven by personal experiences (admittedly of an entirely more mundane nature) in this matter. At the very least, it was the conversational upside of inevitable biological realities. And we would not be surprised if next year on the conference circuit we see the comeback of the Asian style designer medical masks, as well as the increased presence of indoor biodetection sensors – if only for the experimentation, modeling & simulation folks to mull over in a very different kind of crowdsourcing exercise.

On analytic environments

It has been a while since we have revisited this subject. We are still strong believers in the adage that if one stares long enough into the cubicle, then the abyss stares back. However, long gone are the halcyon days of an IC influenced by the dot com era, seeking to implement revolutionary new space designs for a more creative atmosphere. Now, we face constant compression, and the ad hoc creation of new kinds of environments in the far flung realms of our forward deployed edge, as well as the unique spaces of the watch and fusion centers that now proliferate throughout the community.

But it is occasionally worth reflecting on what might be, if one were to challenge the dominant archetype of the current analytic environment. New spaces are being built all the time, and the further one goes from the Beltway, the more potential one finds for innovation – especially in the face of decentralization pressures.

We are not looking for something so radical as to be out of place even in modern corporate culture. Certainly nothing like the brooding industrial era estates one finds out in the wilds of “other” Virginia that might be readily re-purposed to the cause, but would remind one of a nearly HP Lovecraft atmosphere better fitted to the home of the fictional Laundry (or perhaps more appropriately, its American Black Chamber counterpart.)

Rather, we look to the best in class commercial entrepreneurs whose primary business is that of the mind. We have written many times before about the approaches taken by Google, and think enough has been said for that comparison. We would this time around seek to highlight the new spaces created for Microsoft’s Research division, also as iconic an institution of thought as any in modern America. We are fortunate that the roving blogger Robert Scoble has profiled this unique environment in a recent photo series.

We think there are lessons in these designs which can be distilled for the new IC. We are certain that given the option, many of the best and brightest would vote with their feet in favour of such environments - should they ever become available in an enlightened organization.

The analytical environments of others

The distractions of working in compressed, Dilbert-like cubicle farms in decaying buildings managed according to bureaucratic concepts of efficiency are well known, both inside and outside government. The intelligence community is suffering these effects more than most – and the effects on individual analyst performance are even more pronounced given the nature of the work, than in say the office of the second special assistant deputy undersecretary for agricultural subsidy ecological diversity and sustainability assurance.

Even the newest construction in essentially amounts to converted warehouses stacked with ranked cubes, or the sardine like rows of the typical watch floor (elaborate set design variants aside.) These are not environments naturally suited to creativity or contemplation.

This is a debate within the IC as old at the dot com era, however. We have seen attempts to impose every conceivable variant – from hoteling and hot-desking to flex space and bean bag chairs. Few have endured (although we occasionally miss the billiards and foozeball tables).

The high pace of deployments during the Long War have stripped us of the need for many of these externalized trappings that were once associated with energetic, productive shops. The best work of our lives, and of many of our counterparts, has been done in hellholes and safe houses scattered around the globe – and it goes without saying that none of these have air conditioning, and occasionally, not even working electrical systems or running water. (Although we certainly do not miss the terrible design aesthetic of Ba’athist marble monstrosities.) Perhaps this is not the way of life many of us would wish to lead – in fact, these experiences have greatly inculcated in many a deep longing for the quiet wood and leather atmosphere of many traditional academic settings. But this is the nature of the thing, it seems.

It is thus with some interest we follow the efforts of other highly intellectual professions to create the ideal environment for the incubation of brilliance. We are particularly interested in the rapid construction, pre-fab style highlighted here by Future Now – and we note markedly the contrasts to the other related regional facility they recently profiled.

For what it matters, we do believe that the analytical workforce benefits from a better environment than is typically found in most community facilities – overseas or domestic. But our adversaries and emerging competitors are nowhere near as pampered. It is something to keep in mind the next time facilities reorganization comes up for discussion.