Building the digital C-suite: Lessons from CIA’s security integration

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is one of the most aggressively targeted organizations on earth. From the moment I assumed the role of deputy director for digital innovation in 2019, I could feel the weight of that reality. We were under extreme pressure to modernize our digital capabilities, accelerate mission impact, and stay ahead of capable adversaries whose attacks were relentless and increasingly sophisticated.

Upon assuming the role, I quickly realized that some of the Agency’s most capable leaders — our CIO, CISO and chief data officer — were working in parallel rather than in partnership. Each of their offices was solving similar challenges around risk, access, speed and scale, but lacked a unifying strategic framework to harness their collective expertise. This dynamic also left me and my associate deputy director in the role of technology integrators for our direct reports, a situation which was neither wise, feasible nor sustainable.

This was not a failure of leadership or capability; these were exceptional professionals running large organizations and sophisticated operations with skill and vision. The problem was structural and cultural. Like many large organizations with legacy technology programs, we had inadvertently created a digital ecosystem where our most critical functions were optimized for their individual missions instead of our shared goals for the future.

This was not a hypothetical problem. Our officers were conducting high-risk missions in some of the world’s most dangerous places, at what we called “the pointy end of the spear.” They needed us to deliver. Now. Not on a five-year program timeline.

To achieve true digital transformation while maintaining the security posture demanded by our unique mission, we needed to create what we called our digital C-suite. This was a functional, collaborative model that integrated security, data and information technology strategy from the earliest planning stages, not as an afterthought.

The problem with parallel efforts

The structural challenges we faced are not unique to intelligence organizations. Our IT leadership focused on modernization, scalability and workforce access. Our cybersecurity teams concentrated on threat mitigation and resilience. And our data leaders prioritized governance, grappling with decades of legacy data poorly organized for modern analytics. We needed to get all this right because our ability to build an AI-powered intelligence service for the future depended on synchronized execution up and down the tech stack.

While each function was executing brilliantly within its domain, we lacked strategic alignment across these critical capabilities. This created several cascading problems: duplicative efforts, inefficiency, competing priorities that slowed decision-making and potential gaps in our enterprise security posture. We were inadvertently creating an environment where security was a constraint rather than an enabler.

The consequences extended far beyond operational inefficiency. Our adversaries were not organizing their cyber operations and intelligence activities in separate stovepipes. They were integrating these capabilities into sophisticated, coordinated strategies designed to exploit exactly the kind of seams and gaps that emerged from siloed approaches to digital transformation. And we needed to maintain our lead against adversaries across the digital domain.

Bringing a field operations perspective to digital transformation

Drawing from decades leading intelligence operations around the world, I knew that successful complex operations required tight integration. This meant more than coordination; it involved actual operational unity where different capabilities reinforce and enable each other. Digital transformation could not be technology implementation for its own sake. It had to be directly connected to what our officers and mission demanded for success today and in the future.

I also brought urgency to the challenge. In field operations, timing often determines success or failure. This same principle applied to digital transformation in an environment where our adversaries were rapidly advancing their own capabilities and we were in a race for technological supremacy. We needed integrated development that moved at the speed of mission.

Establishing a digital C-suite

The breakthrough came when we recognized that the solution was not another reorganization, but a cultural and operational shift toward structured collaboration. We brought our three key digital capability leaders into regular, strategic alignment through what they named the digital C-suite. The goal was to ensure their teams were planning and executing major initiatives collaboratively from the beginning.

The model first gained momentum around an ambitious pilot project that aimed to dramatically collapse the timeline from data collection anywhere around the world to the moment that data was available in enterprise analytic tools. This pilot was perfect for testing our integrated approach because it required seamless coordination across IT infrastructure, data governance, global secure communications and cybersecurity controls. Most importantly, it addressed a mission-critical need that the entire workforce understood and valued.

As expected, early efforts were not without friction. Over time, however, we learned to leverage these different perspectives as complementary strengths rather than competing objectives.

Embedding security by design

The digital C-suite model had a deep impact on how we approached security in our digital initiatives. Instead of treating cybersecurity as something to be bolted on after technical decisions were made, security was embedded at the strategy level through joint planning. This approach created shared accountability across our digital leaders, eliminating the blind spots that typically emerge from sequential handoffs.

The pilot project exemplified this approach. We designed the entire capability with security principles embedded from the architecture phase, which not only resulted in a more secure system but in fact accelerated deployment. We avoided the costly retrofitting and rework that typically occurs when security requirements are introduced late.

Translating the model to private sector applications

Since leaving government, I’ve seen teams across multiple industries who face similar challenges, and I believe the principles that made our digital C-suite effective can translate directly to private sector environments.

For enterprise CIOs leading digital transformation initiatives, I would recommend several actionable steps. First, bring your CISO and CDO into early-stage strategic planning, not just operational reviews. This ensures security and data governance influence architecture decisions rather than constraining them after the fact. Second, define shared success metrics across your digital leadership roles. Third, recognize that cyber risk, data governance, and innovation are interconnected facets of the same enterprise challenge.

The most successful implementations I’ve observed focus on building this collaboration around a galvanizing challenge that demonstrates clear value to the teams working on the project and the broader organization that will benefit from its success. Today, I would center this model around enterprise AI adoption, a challenge that inherently requires seamless integration of IT infrastructure, data governance, and cybersecurity.

Building cross-functional capability

Beyond executive alignment, we discovered that building cross-functional expertise at the working level was valuable. We actively encouraged officers to rotate across the digital directorate, broadening their skills and bringing fresh perspectives. These rotations became recognized as a positive career progression that prepared leaders for increasingly complex digital challenges.

This cross-pollination had several benefits. Technical specialists appreciated security constraints, security professionals gained a deeper understanding of operational pressures, and data specialists gained valuable exposure to broader technical challenges. Most importantly, these rotations created a cadre of professionals who could serve as ambassadors or translators across organizational boundaries, reducing friction and improving collaboration.

Strengthening digital leadership for the future

The digital C-suite model we developed at CIA reflects a recognition that modern digital transformation requires fundamentally different approaches to leadership. In a world where business objectives demand rapid digital transformation and where cybersecurity, data governance and IT modernization are all under pressure, organizations need collaboration models that can align these efforts more effectively. And it starts at the top.

This is not about creating more meetings or additional bureaucracy. In fact, it should reduce both. It’s an acknowledgment that the most sophisticated digital capabilities emerge from the intersection of security, data and technology strategy, all aimed at a common objective. The most successful digital transformations I have observed are led by teams that understand this integration as a competitive advantage.

Organizations embarking on their own digital transformation journey might wonder whether they can afford to invest in this type of cross-functional leadership alignment. But I would ask whether they can afford not to. The effective use of digital capabilities increasingly determines competitive advantage, and cyber risks can undermine entire business models overnight. Forming some version of a digital C-suite has become a strategic necessity.

Building this capability takes deliberate leadership, effective workforce communication, and sustained commitment, but the payoff is resilience and transformation that can scale. What may start as a modest pilot project with an audacious goal can become an entirely new way of breaking down silos.

In a world of accelerating risk and opportunity, organizations need better tools, but they also require stronger alignment. The digital C-suite provides a proven framework for achieving both.

All statements of fact, opinion, or analysis expressed are those of the author and do not reflect the official positions or views of the US Government. Nothing in the contents should be construed as asserting or implying US Government authentication of information or endorsement of the author’s views.

This article is published as part of the Foundry Expert Contributor Network.
Want to join?