The Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) is an organisation under the US Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI). As a research organization serving the US intelligence community (USIC), its main objective is to conduct high-risk and high-payoff research on complex issues that would potentially provide the US with an overwhelming intelligence advantage. Research areas include artificial intelligence (AI), quantum computing, machine learning, and synthetic biology. [source]
IARPA does not deploy technology directly to the field. It contributes to US national security by sharing its research with customers within the USIC who are then able to implement it into their operations. Most of its research, however, is unclassified and available to the public.
1 Historic Background
IARPA came to life in 2007 as part of ODNI’s post 9/11 reforms. The goal was to better address national security threats, minimize surprises, and enhance the capabilities of intelligence foresight. IARPA was modelled after another agency – Defence Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) – created in 1958 after the Soviet Union launched its first satellite into orbit. While DARPA mainly serves the Department of Defense (DOD), IARPA’s mission is closely linked to developing new technologies and conducting advanced research for the needs of the intelligence community. [source]
1.1 Advanced Research Projects Activity
Advanced Research Projects Activity (ARPA) organizations play a crucial role within a broader research framework. They focus on research that accepts high risks with possible groundbreaking outcomes.
The first ARPA – DARPA – was established in 1958 during the Cold War. It transformed military strategies from mass bombing to precision strikes through innovations like GPS and stealth technology. DARPA’s influence extends to foundational technologies such as artificial intelligence, microelectronics, and the internet. Recent achievements include autonomous naval vessels, advanced military capabilities, nuclear detection systems for urban safety, and rapid-response mRNA vaccine platforms that facilitated the quick development of COVID-19 vaccines. [source]
In 2006, IARPA was created to address intelligence community needs. Similarly, Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy (ARPA-E) was launched in 2009 to innovate energy technologies. Both ARPAs have energized research communities by connecting them with significant challenges.
Key elements of the ARPA model include: [source]
- Programs with limited durations (3-5 years) that aim to achieve bold goals.
- Collaboration with companies and universities.
- Exceptional program managers who combine expertise with execution capabilities.
- Leadership that oversees a diverse portfolio of programs.
2 Organization and Structure
As an organization, IARPA is a relatively flat structure with a workforce led by program managers (PMs) who drive 3-5 year research initiatives. Their timed employment is to ensure the consistent influx of fresh ideas and perspectives. Researchers are encouraged to take risks and accept failure as part of the process. Peer-reviews, precise documentation, and analysis of outcomes are the norm.
There are multiple offices operating within IARPA: [source]
- Office for Anticipating Surprise: Aims to characterize and reduce uncertainty through anticipatory intelligence and developing new ways of delivering timely and accurate forecasts.
- Office of Incisive Analysis: The goal of the programs in this office is to maximize insight from collected information..
- Office of Safe & Secure Operations: Tasked with countering new capabilities implemented by US adversaries that could impact operations in a networked world.
- Office of Smart Collection: The goal of the programs in this office is to dramatically improve the value of collected data from all sources.
2.1 Program Managers
To apply as a PM at IARPA, interested researchers can submit their letters of interest, resumes, and responses to a list of Heilmeier Questions, queries devised by former DARPA director George H. Heilmeier. The questions help to better understand the context, costs, and effort required to execute a research project: [source, source]
- What are you trying to do?
- How does this get done at present? Who does it? What are the limitations of present approaches?
- Are you aware of the state-of-the-art and have you thoroughly thought through all the options?
- What is new about your approach? Why do you think you can be successful at this time?
- Given that you’ve provided clear answers to 1 & 2, have you created a compelling option?
- What does first-order analysis of your approach reveal?
- If you succeed, what difference will it make?
- Why should we care?
- How long will it take? How much will it cost? What are your midterm and final exams?
- What is your program plan? How will you measure progress? What are your milestones/metrics? What is your transition strategy?
A research program usually runs three to five years. Once a program is initiated, the PM can engage various organizations deemed necessary to meet the program’s objectives. This often includes companies, universities, nonprofits, other government entities, and organizations with the expertise and resources to conduct the required research.
IARPA remains in close touch with the intelligence community across the whole lifecycle of a research programme. This fosters a collaborative community among participants and ensures that new capabilities can be quickly forwarded to the USIC customers. [source, source]
In addition to PM positions, IARPA’s website regularly publishes other open roles and opportunities for engagement.
3 Mission and Research Priorities
The core of their mission revolves around conducting cross-disciplinary and cross-agency research to work on persistent challenges of the USIC, while also bridging the gap between academic research and operational demands. About 70% of completed research transitions to US government agencies and partners. However, sometimes the research goes beyond government needs. In 2012, physicist David Wineland received the Nobel Prize in Physics for quantum computing research funded by IARPA. [source]
Some key areas of interests of IARPA’s research include: [source]
- Quantum Advantage: Since 2009, IARPA has led US government investment in quantum technologies development.
- Biometrics: IARPA biometric programs helped improve identity intelligence speed and accuracy from a wide range of biometric markers. Identity intelligence is applicable in counterterrorism, protection of critical infrastructure, and border security.
- Forecasting: IARPA forecasting programs created millions of forecasts with critical insights into the accuracy of crowdsourced vs individual human judgment about geopolitical events.
- Human Language Technology (HLT): IARPA HLT programs improved artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML) to better apply speech recognition technology and extract information from any human language, changing the way how the USIC processes foreign language information.
Beyond that, IARPA conducts research across a wide range of scientific realms such as math, physics, chemistry, biology, neuroscience, linguistics, political science, cognitive psychology, etc.
3.1 Current Projects
IARPA publishes a wide range of its current research projects. Some interesting examples among those include: [source]
- Bias Effects and Notable Generative AI Limitations (BENGAL): Aims to reduce bias, threats, and vulnerabilities in large language models (LLMs) to enable their safe use in the intelligence community.
- Reimagining Security with Cyberpsychology-Informed Network Defenses (ReSCIND): Aims to enhance cyber defense capabilities by leveraging cognitive biases and human limitations that can be intensified and manipulated to weaken attackers.
- Securing Compartmented Information with Smart Radio Systems (SCISRS): Aims to develop smart radio techniques to automatically detect and characterize radiofrequency (RF) anomalies that may indicate a compromise of secure data in complex RF environments.
- Space Debris Identification and Tracking (SINTRA): Seeks to understand the interaction of orbital debris with the surrounding space environment to detect, track, and characterize lethal non-trackable orbital space debris for safer space operations.
4 Conclusion
IARPA’s unique role in the USIC lies in its pioneering approach towards research. It takes on high risks for high payoffs and potentially groundbreaking outcomes. By maintaining its risk tolerance within the intelligence context, it addresses unique challenges, such as anticipatory intelligence and cognitive bias mitigation. As the strategic competition between the US, China, and Russia intensifies, the stakes for IARPA to remain one (scientific) step ahead will remain high.
Additionally, the ARPA model has proven itself as a viable tool to drive innovative research and accelerate its practical implementations. IARPA and similar agencies can thus serve as examples to expand this model to other issues such as education, health, or climate change.
