William McCormick
Jennifer Ewbank, deputy director of Digital Innovation for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), has been named a 2022 Wash100 Award recipient, the most renowned award in all of government contracting (GovCon), for her leadership and vision for the future of innovation in U.S. national security efforts as well as her push for cyber, AI and other significant emerging technologies.
Executive Mosaic is pleased to recognize Ewbank as a first-time Wash100 winner for the first time in her federal career.
Visit Wash100.com to cast a vote for Jennifer Ewbank as one of your TEN votes to advocate for your favorite leaders in the federal and government sectors.
As the Deputy Director of the CIA for Digital Innovation, Jennifer Ewbank is responsible for accelerating the development and integration of digital and cyber capabilities across all of the CIA’s mission areas. From cybersecurity to IT infrastructure, these officers keep the CIA at the forefront of the digital landscape.
“As for the DDI, we can accelerate the adoption of emerging digital technologies and integrate them with CIA’s traditional strengths in human intelligence and technical intelligence to counter threats to our nation and the shared interests of our allies around the world,” said Ewbank.
It was reported back in Dec. 2021 that the CIA was overhauling its training and management of spies as part of a realignment for the agency to transition away from the past two decades worth of counterterrorism to focus on the national security threats against the U.S. by China or Russia.
The CIA will better staff remote outposts seen as critical to the China mission and ensure the agency is developing officers with the appropriate expertise over the long term, which includes investment in emerging technologies and human intelligence collection.
For instance, the rapid development and use cases of big data and surveillance technology has made it incredibly difficult for intelligence collectors to consistently stay ahead of the curve. The agency also recently stood up the “China Mission Center,” back in October 2021.
“China has emerged as our most significant and daunting challenge,” said Jennifer Ewbank during a recent intelligence conference. “The plans and intentions of despots and terrorists, the things that have yet to happen, are increasingly more difficult to uncover by traditional means.”
With the CIA’s Directorate of Digital Innovation shifting its focus towards the advancement of our adversaries’ technology capabilities, Ewbank explained that the U.S. needs to make new and bold developments in tradecraft, tools, platforms and other mission solutions that provide decisive operational advantages.
“Our own competitiveness as an intelligence service and an intelligence community will depend on how fast we turn this evolving digital landscape to our own advantage relative to our adversaries,” Ewbank said.
In particular, the CIA has obviously been focused on its cybersecurity capabilities in order to ensure success in its mission for superiority and gaining the advantage in intelligence and data against our adversaries. CIA leaders, including Ewbank, see partnering with the private sector to be “really critical,” in this area to achieve the highest level of global superiority in cybersecurity and AI and machine learning capabilities by 2030.
The most significant priorities for the CIA include its missions on cybersecurity, enterprise ID and open-source information collection around the world. The CIA aims to harness the power of data, raise the digital acumen of its workforce and strengthen its partnership with the private sector, Ewbank explained.
Executive Mosaic is proud to recognize Jennifer Ewbank for being named a 2022 Wash100 Award recipient. As a first time winner of the most coveted award in GovCon, Ewbank has demonstrated a level of success and recognition that can only be recognized by the Wash100 Award and the GovCon community.
