Juliane Gallina is a rare kind of intelligence community official. Her résumé contains experience that covers all bases: private sector, military and federal agency, and Gallina, who now serves as deputy director for digital intelligence at the CIA, uses this multi-industry fluency to speak to different audiences about the agency’s priorities. Such transparency is uncommon for the IC, which is necessarily secretive and highly confidential; Gallina affords partners the opportunity to learn and tailor their services to her and CIA’s specifications.
The respected thought leader will join Potomac Officers Club, the government contracting sector’s most essential networking organization, for its 2025 Digital Transformation Summit as a keynote speaker. The April 24 event offers GovCon executives a fantastic forum for learning about forthcoming government technology initiatives, networking with peers and competitors alike and even a panel about DOGE and its effects on the industry. Save your spot today!
Who Is Juliane Gallina?
Gallina began her career in the U.S. Navy, graduating from both the U.S. Naval Academy and Postgraduate Naval School. She was a reserve Joint Rapid Acquisition Cell seminar leader for a time, igniting an interest in the speed of procurement for military tech. She retired as a commanding officer in 2013 after over 20 years in the service.
In a 10-year stint at the National Reconnaissance Office, Gallina cultivated and oversaw programs that developed and delivered signals intelligence systems and space mechanisms. She is an engineer, as well as a technologist, manager and change-maker.
Private Sector Foray
In 2008, Gallina left the government and joined the private sector for 10 years, working for a small company, which was acquired by a mid-sized organization, which was eventually acquired by IBM. This allowed Gallina to work across the spectrum of business models and impact levels, and provided a crash course on the commercial landscape. She rose to vice president of U.S. federal accounts in her final year at IBM, demonstrating just how far she’d come and her mastery of the federal marketplace.
Awards & Recognition
Gallina is a two-time winner of the Wash100 Award, Executive Mosaic’s recognition of the individuals shaping the GovCon landscape of tomorrow. Gallina won the award in 2020 and 2021 and she continues to be a major force in the industry.
Gallina at CIA
In April 2019, Gallina was appointed chief information officer at CIA. She has since been promoted twice: first to associate deputy director for digital innovation in October 2021 and then, in January 2024, to her current role as deputy director of digital innovation.
Gallina’s Focus Areas at CIA
In a 2022 video interview with Executive Mosaic, Gallina told us that the agency’s top five technology priority areas are “artificial intelligence and machine learning; blockchain and cryptocurrency; biotechnology; microelectronics and next-generation communications; and quantum computing.”
According to recent reporting by MeriTalk, these priorities remain in place, along with a renewed focus on cloud.
“We need all variations of the cloud, everything from hybrid cloud, private cloud … we still need high-performance compute. We may also still continue to need on-premise compute for all of these things, for the full spectrum of our performance,” the CIA leader noted.
“We need multi-cloud to really become fully mature with generative AI to use large language models or diffusion models to really optimize our performance,” she added.
In fall 2024, Gallina suggested that the agency has its sights set on generative AI, calling it “intuitive for end users” and noting that it has demonstrated a more efficient enabler of human-machine teaming. Her comments portended an expanded focus on the ascendent technology in the years to come.
“[GenAI is] much more viral than traditional machine learning approaches were for us, so I think in the future, we’re going to continue to have both in our enterprise,” Gallina commented at an event.
Industry Collaboration
A hallmark of Gallina’s work at CIA has been her insistence on the importance of working hand-in-hand with the private sector. She made this clear in our interview with her from a few years back and emphasized the focus in recent months.
“If you’re in industry and you’re listening, you’re eager to learn, and you’re curious about us, we’re curious about you too,” Gallina advised.
Juliane Gallina to Keynote 2025 Digital Transformation Summit
If you’re interested in being one of the CIA’s industry collaborators, make sure to attend the Potomac Officers Club’s 2025 Digital Transformation Summit on April 24. Gallina will be a keynote speaker and there will be ample time for Q&A and one-on-one interface. Check out the full roster of government technology leaders on the docket, as well as the high-level ideas they’ll be addressing, and register now!
