(U) "Signal Noise? Colunm: Do We Need a Bigger SIGINT Truck?

FROM: (unsouo)
Run Date: ovasaoia

 

(U) Once upon a time, two people formed a new business. "They built a small shed beside a busy
road, rented a truck and drove it to a farmer's field, where they purchased a of melons for
a dollar per melon. They drove the leaded to their shed, where they sold them for a dollar per
As they drove back toward the farmer's field to get another load, one partner said to the
other, "We're not making much money on this business, are we The partner replied, "Do you think
we need a bigger truck?"* Sometimes more is just more, if you're not paying attention to what the
metrics are telling you.

(U) This example is a pretty obvious demonstration of the need for business intelligence. The point
of business intelligence is that "what gets measured, gets managed." If we don't have the right
measurements available, we simply gm. In this example, the melon duo felt like they should just
sell more melons to increase profits and to do so meant getting a bigger truck [don't confuse them
with the facts).

Throughout SlIi we often discuss what "a pound of costs or is worth. It's
difficult, but not impossible, to figure out the value or cost of a specific pound of SIG INT.
"Measuring lets us determine exactly what we can and can't control. Then what we can control, we
fbt; what we can't control, we either change or isolate. By measuring, we know where to spend our
time and Figuring out what to count across the Enterprise and how to obtain those
count results from our SIGI world can take hours, multiple tools, a variety of frightening
pivot tables, multiple queries, a small army of "phone-a- friends, and possibly a registry action.
am not kidding.) Ironically, for an intelligence organisation, operational business intelligence can
be hard to come by.

HEEL) Recently Itried to answer what seemed like a relatively straightforward question
about which telephony metadata collection cap abilities are the most important in case we need to
shut something off when the metadata coffers get full. By the end of the day, I felt like capitulating
with the white flag of, "We need COL DS SAL data storage so we don't have to worry about it" [aka
we need a bigger SIGIN truck), because getting the metrics for empirical evidence to review was
so very difficult and, frankly, I'm still a little scarred by the esp erience.

[Sth HEEL) Without metrics, how do we know that we have improved something or made it
worse? There's a running joke in the SS community that we'll only know if collection is important
by shutting it off and seeing if someone screams. That's one metric anyway, and sadly, the easiest
one [and arguably the most effective) to obtain.

[Sth HEEL) So, in this year of decreasing budgets and ever-constrained resources, it's naturally
more important to measure what we can to optimise our time and energy. Wherever you sit and
whatever grade you clock in at, there are things you can measure to determine how effectively you
are doing what you are doing. Start measuring today and set some new 2?12 goals to improve your
contributions. For a head start, I suggest reading "How to Measure An?hing: Finding the 1iv'alue of
Intangibles" by Douglas Hubbard. As an added benefit, this skill w?l not only help improve our
SIGINT business but also dramatically improve your EPA, resume, and ACE bullets! After all, it's
one thing to say you need a bigger SIGINT tmck, new tool, promotion, etc. and another thing
altogether to prove it.

 

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"Db you think we need a bigger truck?" (Sbnree:
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Bethune, G. "Fran tn First: Behind the Scenes bf Centinental's Remarkable

 

Centebaek."

Standard disclaimer: All S?jt?d?y enlnnins express the 1aiews at the albne
and de- represent the effieial views bf an}:r NEH brganiaatibn.