Meet the CIA's Former Digital Chief

About this episode

The episode explores the digital transformation efforts at the CIA through the insights of its former digital chief, Jennifer Ewbank.

What do you think it would be like to lead AI efforts and the overall digital transformation of the CIA? This week, we find out as we dive into a world of espionage and secrets in the latest installment of our oral history project. We Meet: Retired Deputy CIA Director for Digital Innovation Jennifer Ewbank Credits: This episode of SHIFT was produced by Jennifer Strong with help from Emma Cillekens. It was mixed by Garret Lang, with original music from him and Jacob Gorski. Art by Meg Marco. This episode originally aired in October 2025.

People in this episode

Host: Jennifer Strong

Guest: Jennifer Ewbank

Topics covered

• AI
• digital transformation
• espionage
• CIA
• oral history
• technology

Keywords

• CIA
• digital innovation
• AI efforts
• Jennifer Ewbank
• espionage
• technology
• oral history

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: CIA

More episodes of SHIFT

• Quantum Computing’s Hardest Path Reaches a Breakthrough · June 4, 2026 · 22 min
• Digital Citizens or Digital Subjects? · June 3, 2026 · 31 min
• How to Build AI for the Physical World · May 27, 2026 · 25 min
• AI's Survival of the Fittest · May 20, 2026 · 20 min
• Teaching Kids to Think About AI—Not Just Use It · May 13, 2026 · 16 min
• AI Ethics Needs a Nightmare, Not a North Star · May 6, 2026 · 24 min