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On 2 May 2025, AFIO held its National IC Luncheon with speakers Michael Ellis, CIA Deputy Director, and David Cattler, Director, Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency. Below the photos are the remarks made by Deputy Director Ellis.
Thank you for that kind introduction, Stewart, and good morning, everyone.
It’s great to be here, especially since this is actually my first public appearance as Deputy Director of CIA.
And I have to say, it’s really nice to ease into my role by engaging with a group of professionals who are widely known to be demure, deferential, and completely disinclined to asking tough questions.
So, thank you to my staff for letting me start off so easy.
Of course, it’s my privilege to stand before such a distinguished audience, and I look forward to meeting many of you over the course of my tenure at CIA.
Moving forward, we must continue to strengthen the critical link between the Intelligence Community and our alumni—and AFIO has played a crucial role in doing just that.
Now, I’d be remiss if I didn’t pause for a moment to acknowledge your big anniversary.
Fifty years is an amazing run for any organization—so congratulations on reaching such an incredible milestone!
And now that I’m the Deputy Director of one of your major feeder organizations, I certainly wish you nothing but continued success in your efforts to support our alumni.
Because by doing so, you help maintain a tremendous resource for the Intelligence Community and our country. It’s easy to see why.
So, on behalf of Director Ratcliffe and everyone at CIA—thank you for your service to our great Nation.
We value your steadfast dedication as you continue to help strengthen our country in a variety of ways.
But I think one of those ways is often overlooked and always underutilized.
I’m talking about innovation, a word that we usually associate with high-tech companies—but innovation comes from many sources, not just Silicon Valley.
The IC needs to pay more attention to ideas that come from our own alumni. After all, who else is more attuned to the requirements of our mission than those who have actually done the mission?
So, at the risk of embarrassing Stewart—who was unaware I was going to bring this up—I want to highlight a recent article of his.
I don’t really need to walk you all through the article, because Stewart exhibited great analytic tradecraft by putting the entire bottom line up front—in his title, actually: “Should American Spies Steal Commercial Secrets?”
Now, even though this is my first public engagement as DD/CIA, I still know the cardinal rule of CIA Public Relations 101: Thou Shall Not Break Any News.
So, to be clear, I am not endorsing any particular policy Stewart may have brought up in his article. I will say, however, that it’s an excellent read and a thought-provoking argument.
It’s a great example of tackling old problems with new ideas—something that I believe happens far more often, and far more easily outside the confines of government.
That means that CIA and the IC—with your help—must open our minds more to the ideas and solutions of others.
We should welcome and encourage those who can:
I not only believe we can do this; I believe we must do this.
Because I believe—and President Trump believes—that one of America’s greatest strengths is our cutting-edge industry. It’s time we start taking full advantage of it.
That means getting private technologies into the hands of CIA officers more quickly, because speed really is the name of the game here. That’s one reason why we valued hearing from Elon Musk when he visited Langley last month, which we can talk more about later.
Industry leaders like Elon understand one fundamental truth—whoever wins the technology race of today will lead the world tomorrow.
It’s a race we cannot afford to lose.
So we really do live in a time of great consequence, and the threats we face are complex and profound. To overcome them, we’ll need fresh ideas, new perspectives, and creative solutions that remain aligned with our Nation’s values.
But most of all, we cannot go it alone, and we cannot lose our focus.
Because our mission is more important than ever—to provide President Trump with a decisive intelligence advantage over his foreign counterparts when making national security decisions. Our top priorities are clear:
We can go into those priorities more during my chat with Stewart and the Q&A—so I’ll close with a few words on how CIA has already started to optimize our workforce to successfully face these challenges.
President Trump knows that success revolves around a laser-like focus on mission, and he has enabled this focus through various executive orders. CIA will—as we have always done—implement the President’s directives vigorously and faithfully.
Approaches and methods that work elsewhere may not be suitable for CIA’s unique mission. So Director Ratcliffe and I have been taking a deliberate and thoughtful approach.
The end result will be the ultimate meritocracy and a more elite Agency. One that develops a CIA workforce with the right set of skills to tackle the threats of tomorrow, not the challenges of yesterday.
A CIA workforce that doubles down on our commitment to safeguarding this great Nation. A CIA workforce that shuns distraction. A CIA workforce that is trusted—and makes the American people proud.
In short, a CIA workforce that AFIO would be honored to welcome with open arms.
And with that, I look forward to your questions. Let’s get started, Stewart.
