Cyber Lecture Series Explores How the CIA Adapts to Emerging Technologies in the Fight Against Adversaries

The academic year's Cyber Lecture Series began with a special presentation by Ms. Juliane Gallina ’92 (CDR, Ret.), Deputy Director for Digital Innovation at the CIA who spoke on artificial intelligence, social media and the People's Republic of China (PRC).

The Brigade of Midshipmen gathered in Alumni Hall on 17 September for a fireside chat with Brigade Commander MIDN Cameron Colavito '24, supported by Booz Allen Hamilton.

“In this new era of higher education, collaborations similar to these provide the needed boost to achieve academic excellence,” said Tonya Grant, Director of Corporate & Foundation Relations at the USNA Alumni Association and Foundation. “We leverage collaborations such as the Booz Allen Cyber Lecture Series to enhance value to students through expansion of academic offerings. It allows a winning approach to operate from a position of industry expertise.”

“Booz Allen Hamilton Cyber is at the cutting edge for the modern war fighter,” said Joe Suarez, Executive Advisor at Booz Allen Hamilton. “As a company, whatever we can do for our next generation of Naval and Marine Corps Leaders to educate and provide them with the tools to give us the competitive edge on the battlefield!”

Gallina opened her lecture with a history and evolution of communications and technology, and the role of communications officers during World War II and Cold War. She spoke to midshipmen on the importance of modern communication systems and the impact of technology in the CIA’s mission to maintain a competitive advantage against adversaries—especially the need to adapt to near-peer adversaries, particularly the People’s Republic of China, in the digital domain.

“The way I look at it is my organization is an organization of knowledge workers for an information age where conflict will largely be conducted in the cyber domain and in the information domain. So our agency needs to master this technology in order to succeed, move faster and make better decisions,” Gallina said.

She discussed the current role of artificial intelligence and its impact on national security, how it has evolved since 2011 and the significance of generative AI in the marketplace, including ethical considerations.

MIDN Colavito asked if there are any ethical dilemmas the CIA is currently facing, especially regarding AI or other emerging technologies.

“I think it's pretty evident that one has to be careful when using models to make sure that we're preventing bias. We certainly want to use models that have been proven that they're assured,” Gallina said.

“If you’re a human analyst, you have to you have to justify and show your sources, just like writing a paper…Our analysts have to cite sources too. Well, if you're using artificial intelligence to really scan through massive, massive amounts of information and data, it's a little tricky when those models aren't able to really show you exactly what the source of their judgment or analytic recommendation is. So we have to do a little extra work to make sure when we're using AI, it's not a black box, meaning invisible or hard to understand how that AI came to its judgment. So explainability is the term we use, but it basically means, like a human, it has to explain its work.”

Gallina explained the importance of understanding and managing privacy and data security, especially in the context of social media and emerging technologies. She spoke on the risk of TikTok and how it is “actively backdooring personal data” from the app for the PRC and how various malign influence campaigns take place on social media.

“Every single one of you has clicked a like on content that was completely fake, totally generated and generated by an adversary—every single one. You didn’t do it on purpose, but you did it because it’s just so pervasive. So you need to be smart, sappy consumers of social media and smart, savvy content creators as well.”

Gallina closed her fireside chat with advice to midshipmen that understanding technology is more than just being aware of personal data on social media—that it can also compromise a mission.

She emphasized that no matter where their careers lead after the Academy—whether they are leading Sailors or Marines in combat—they must understand technology. This knowledge is essential not only because each technological component is part of a larger system, but also because it enables them, as leaders, to effectively communicate with technology teams about their needs.