Kyle Rice

"I began working in the IC primarily based upon geography. I went to college in DC. When I graduated and was looking for a job as a coder, I interviewed mostly with systems integrators. My first job was at the Pentagon so I ended up getting cleared and that got me exposed to the sorts of really fascinating problems that exist in the government space so I never left the community."

"I work for SAP National Security Services (SAP NS2) - we are the subsidiary of SAP that focuses on the US secure community. As CTO, I have a really great job because I get to figure out how to take the best of the commercial technology that SAP has and apply it to problems that exist in the US secure space. So a typical day involves talking with IC customers about what's keeping them up at night, and then designing a solution based upon proven commercial technology to help address their issues. It’s rewarding because it lets me sit at the intersection of commercial speed and key government problems."

"I’m excited about the increasing willingness of the IC to leverage commercial technology. For a while this wasn’t the case, and that made it hard for the government to leverage all the technology investment that takes place on the commercial side. The problem with that is the IC has the most pressing problems, so we need to have the best technology pointed against those problems. If, instead, the smartest minds in industry are focused on how to increase the probability of you adding one more thing to your shopping cart then that’s not a great situation for our national security. But if we can apply that same technology – and hence those smart minds and investment – toward helping to determine links between terrorism actors then we are all in a much better place"

"[The top IC issue of this year is] COVID, but in particular the response that the government has to supporting the IC workforce. A lot of IC work simply can’t be done at home, and facilities being closed has caused a lot of uncertainty for the workforce. The government needs to make it clear that the IC workforce is our greatest IC asset and that they will be protected and supported in a manner that reflects that importance."

Favorite Book: The Passage by Justin Cronin