CIA Takes To Instagram

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is getting ready to launch its own Instagram account.

Director Gina Haspel revealed the news last week during a speech at the University of Auburn in Alabama. The agency already has Facebook and Twitter accounts, and now Instagram has assisted the CIA to set up an account on the social media site.

“Of course, the CIA does have a Twitter account,” Haspel said, according to The Verge. “Our office of public affairs is getting ready to launch our Instagram account.”

While it’s unknown when the account will launch, there is reportedly a placeholder page with random code waiting to be released. An Instagram spokesperson told The Verge: “Our team worked with the CIA, as they do with many partners, to provide best practices and guidance when it comes to launching an Instagram account.”

“It’s a brave new world,” moderator and former head of intelligence agencies Lt. Gen. Ronald L. Burgess remarked during the discussion. But not everyone within the CIA is supportive about the agency being active on social media.

“We try and be as open as we can, and to protect the secrets that we must protect,” Haspel noted.

And the CIA isn’t the only federal agency to utilize social media. The FBI and NSA, for example, already have Instagram accounts. In addition, Mashable has reported that it might be crucial for intelligence agencies to have a presence on Instagram since Russian agents reportedly used the site more than Facebook during its work to manipulate the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

“One of the most unique challenges we face at this point in history is the rate of technological change,” Haspel said during her remarks. “We’re endeavoring at CIA, and the other U.S. intelligence agencies, to stay abreast of those changes, and to remain on the cutting edge.”