In response to the Coronavirus (COVID-19), the Office of the Director of National Intelligence is following guidance provided by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Before the first rays of sunlight peek over the horizon in D.C., Deirdre Walsh is on her way to the sprawling, 40 -acre Liberty Crossing complex, in McLean, Virginia, that houses the Office of Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) and several of the 16 intelligence agencies it oversees.

America’s intelligence collectors are already using AI in ways big and small, to scan the news for dangerous developments, send alerts to ships about rapidly changing conditions, and speed up the NSA’s regulatory compliance efforts. But before the IC can use AI to its full potential, it must be hardened against attack. The humans who use it — analysts, policy-makers and leaders — must better understand how advanced AI systems reach their conclusions.

Impeccably dressed, charismatically polite and armed with an urgent message, Shelby Pierson, the U.S. Election Threats Executive in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), strode briskly into the studio at WTOP and got straight to the point. “At this juncture, we do not have any intelligence information to suggest that adversaries have sought to compromise voting tallies or change voting numbers,” Pierson said. But she hastily pointed out, that doesn’t mean they won’t try. Since her appointment to the position in July of 2019, Pierson has crisscrossed the country hammering home the need to stay ahead of the threat actors.

In the summer of 2019, Shelby Pierson was appointed the Intelligence Community’s first Election Threats Executive (ETE) to serve as the DNI’s principal adviser on all election security-related matters. Pierson coordinates and integrates all election security activities, initiatives, and programs across the IC and synchronizes intelligence efforts in support of the broader U.S. government.