Meet Jennifer Ewbank | Former CIA | Keynote Speaker | Boards

For  three decades, I served on the frontlines of U.S. national security, running intelligence operations across the globe, including multiple postings as Chief of Station. That career gave me a perspective on human judgment, adversarial behavior, and organizational risk that has no classroom equivalent. Three decades in human intelligence taught me how people are recruited, manipulated, and compromised, one target at a time. 

My years leading digital technology at the CIA showed me what happens when those same techniques operate at the scale of algorithms and populations. From 2019 to 2024, I served as CIA Deputy Director for Digital Innovation, leading the agency's artificial intelligence programs, cyber operations, open-source intelligence, enterprise IT, and data strategy during the years when the U.S.-China technology competition was accelerating fastest and the threat landscape was shifting from physical to cognitive. What the intelligence world taught me is this: the most consequential vulnerabilities are rarely in the systems. They are in minds.

Today, I translate those lessons for executive audiences, boards, associations, and other organizations navigating the governance implications of AI. I founded Andaman Strategic Advisors to advise clients on national security-adjacent technology risk. I serve as Independent Board Director for DarkOwl and the Analysis and Resilience Center for Systemic Risk, and as a Strategic Advisor for Oracle's Government, Defense, and Intelligence business. I also serve on the advisory boards for Reality Defender, RealmOne, and BTI360, and as a senior advisor for The Chertoff Group and Ankura.  All of these roles focus on the intersection of cybersecurity governance, AI oversight, and national security technology.

My signature framework, Mind Sovereignty™, addresses how algorithms and adversaries are already shaping how people think, decide, and act, and what leaders can do about it. I delivered that perspective as a TEDx talk, "Winning the Secret War for Your Mind," in April 2026. I also write Shadow & Signal™, a blog on influence operations, AI governance, and the cybersecurity threats not yet making headlines, and contribute analysis for The Cipher Brief and Homeland Security Today.