Remarks as Prepared for Delivery by Central Intelligence Agency Director John Ratcliffe at the Amazon Web Services Summit, Washington, DC, June 30, 2026
* * * * *
Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you, Dave, for that kind introduction. It’s a pleasure to be here and an honor to speak to such a distinguished group. We all know that sometimes speakers say that just to be polite, but in my case, many of you know that I don’t speak publicly very often. I’m doing so today, because with this audience, whether you hail from the public or private sector, you each play a key role in advancing American innovation and countering some of the most daunting technological problems of our time. At CIA, we take seriously our responsibility to do the same.
In fact, so much so, that every few months when I have the privilege of swearing in new officers at Langley, I underscore the grave responsibility we all share by reminding them that their purpose at CIA is not to be somebody, but rather to do something.
In the lobby of CIA headquarters is our Memorial Wall. There are 141 stars etched into the marble edifice, each one paying tribute to a CIA officer who made the ultimate sacrifice on behalf of their country. The stars tell 141 unique stories. But they all share one fundamental characteristic: they honor devoted patriots who wanted to do something, not be somebody. And it remains our responsibility at CIA to carry forward their legacies.
So, today I want to focus on what our Agency has collectively done, and what we’re continuing to do, to drive our critical mission forward; in particular, how we are adapting to the breakthroughs in technology that are revolutionizing the way we live and work.
This will require bold action and innovation. To be clear, these are not new to CIA. Those characteristics are woven into the very fabric of our organization, and they set us apart as the number one intelligence organization in the world. From our legendary espionage of the Cold War to more recently, since I’ve been here, our audacious support to military operations and successes in Venezuela and Iran, our record is testimony to this.
In Venezuela, the window to capture President Nicolas Maduro was measured in mere minutes, so the intelligence picture had to be crystal clear. Thanks to CIA, it was, and it enabled the remarkably successful operation by American special forces who were able to locate and apprehend the target in less than 4 minutes after their feet hit the ground on the largest military complex in the country.
And in Iran, CIA first provided the flawless intelligence picture necessary last June in Operation Midnight Hammer to get more than 120 U.S. aircraft in and out of Iran to precisely deliver payloads against Iranian nuclear facilities before the enemy could even respond.
And just two months ago, CIA played another a pivotal role during Operation Epic Fury in rescuing the crewman of the F-15E Strike Eagle that was shot down on Good Friday. We leapt into action immediately and launched a search that was, as POTUS said, equivalent to finding a needle in a haystack.
It was a search that confounded the Iranians, despite their best efforts and their homefield advantage. It was a search that rested on our innovation, creativity, and technological know-how.
Ultimately, it was a technology-enabled search that only CIA could pull off.
But as you scan the globe right now, there is no shortage of conflict and crisis, so there is no time to focus on past success. And increasingly, future success is going to depend on technology. We must continue to push the boundaries of what’s possible because the Nation that best harnesses the power of technology will determine the global future.
That’s why, when I became Director, I made clear that emerging technologies was right up there with China as our top priority.
Eighteen months later, that focus hasn’t changed.
But what has changed is the rate at which technology is evolving. Even by the standards of last year, the pace of change is astonishing.
Advances in AI, quantum, and biotech are not just going to profoundly impact economies; they are rewriting the reality of conflict. A great illustration of this is how AI-powered robots and drones can help scaled manufacturing achieve exponentially better speed and efficiency. But on the battlefield, their efficiency and lethality can be equally devastating. Perhaps you saw the open-source reporting a few days ago that estimates the average life expectancy of a Russian recruit reaching the battlefield in Ukraine is estimated to be only 20-35 minutes. Much of the reason is technology and how drones have become super-efficient, low-cost killing machines.
Many of you in private industry see it, as you lead the technology developments driving the biggest societal shift in our lifetimes. Our partners across government see it, as we leverage these cutting-edge tools to support our national security priorities.
And our adversaries across the globe see it, as they work to steal and manipulate America’s advancements for their own ends.
President Trump and this team are determined not to let that happen, and have repeatedly turned to CIA as one of America’s greatest safeguards against these threats.
So, when it comes to technology, what are the steps we’ve taken to tackle these challenges and ensure we remain the preeminent intelligence agency for generations to come?
First, we’re improving communication channels between CIA and our private industry partners. We recognize that when it comes to partnering with private industry, CIA hasn’t always been the easiest agency to work with, both because of our security requirements and because we haven’t always coordinated our outreach to individual companies very well.
I’m sure many of you in the audience can attest to this firsthand.
So, to help ease the burden, we’ve dramatically shortened our timelines for onboarding new technology. Before I was sworn in, the average timeline to acquire a new piece of technology at the enterprise level was as long as 24 months. That was followed by at least an additional nine months to complete a security assessment. The whole process often took three years or more. By that time, the technology has become outdated.
Clearly, that model was not good enough, and we had to do better. And we have.
So now, with our new Acquisition Framework and Procurement Executive, we’re moving towards our goal of completing most acquisitions within six months.
We’re stripping away cumbersome red tape and delegating authority to the lowest possible level. This ensures that those closest to the issue are the ones making the key decisions. The result is nearly 400 acquisitions in just 6 months, something that previously would have taken several years.
Another important step we’ve taken is to provide a more structured approach to tap into the innovation of the private sector. We’ve established an Office of Corporate Partnerships to give our private industry partners a single point of access.
During my confirmation hearing 18 months ago, I talked about the fact that the United States was the only country in the world that could parallel park a 200-foot rocket booster—but also the fact that we could only do it because of partnerships that draw from private sector innovation with companies like SpaceX. So, in my early tenure, I invited Elon Musk to CIA. And I did the same with leaders from so many companies like Amazon, Google, Dell and others.
Another big movement we’ve recently undertaken is transforming our Directorate of Digital Innovation into the Directorate of Mission Systems, or DMS. Unlike DDI, DMS doesn’t have offensive cyber or open-source duties. Instead, we have streamlined its efforts towards focusing on core functions like cybersecurity and advanced data and infrastructure services.
Why is this important? Simply put, it will dramatically strengthen the foundation of our entire Information Technology architecture. This focus is an evolution for CIA. We recognize that we must have the most advanced and resilient technology foundation. We must draw from the innovation of the private sector and quickly integrate it into Agency systems. And we must give new tools to every officer in every position at the speed of mission.
As part of this transformation, we’re undertaking an aggressive data sprint to enhance the discovery and exploitation of our mission data. We will drive data standardization across the Agency, increase our ability to better integrate our holdings, and train our officers on how to use our new capabilities.
If this all sounds like redrawn lines on an org chart, it isn’t. This is a fundamental reshaping of CIA’s approach to technology.
We have to be better positioned than ever to put forth a strong defense and offense against our adversaries, which is why we also elevated the Center for Cyber Intelligence into a mission center. Look, we need to protect not only our physical borders, but just as importantly, our digital borders by wielding both a sword with CCI and a shield with DMS to deter, degrade, and disrupt attacks on our critical infrastructure. At the end of the day, you can be the greatest kinetic power in the world. But if you can’t protect the command-and-control systems of your own country, then you may find your adversaries in charge.
Finally, our widespread adoption of AI is transforming the way we do business. And it must, because the worldwide advancement of AI tools will only continue to raise the stakes in our competition with our adversaries.
In conversations with many of the President’s National Security and Economic advisors, we talked about the impact of these frontier AI models, and that it would not be misplaced to refer to their capabilities as akin to digital nuclear weapons.
While I can’t predict just how fast AI and other emerging technologies will advance or how far they’ll take us, what I can say is that we’re going to do everything we can to deliver top tools to our officers.
What we’re not going to do, as we test the limits of what is possible at CIA, is to make perfect the enemy of good. We’re going to take smart risks, experiment, and course correct as we go.
We can’t afford to wait for a risk-free approach to emerging technology. It doesn’t exist. We have to move fast. We have to be aggressive. And we have to take full advantage of the ingenuity that sets America apart. That’s the only way to make sure CIA continues to operate at the cutting edge.
It is for these reasons that emerging technologies—and AI, in particular—is a domain in which CIA must excel because every algorithmic decision, every byte of data has implications for U.S. strategic advantage and for the national security of our people.
When President Trump first talked to me about joining his Cabinet, I didn’t hesitate to say that CIA is where I wanted to serve. From my time as Director of National Intelligence, I knew CIA was a national treasure, but I thought it was being underutilized—that it was being held back by structural challenges and a culture that too often emphasized process over speed, and bureaucracy over agility.
I knew that properly deployed, CIA would deliver for our country in a way no other agency can, and that it was truly indispensable to the strength and security of our country.
Eighteen months in, I’m more convinced of that than ever before. I firmly believe that if the United States is to be the dominant superpower in the world, CIA must remain the best intelligence agency in the world. And that’s why the changes I’ve shared with you today are so important.
So, we must not just incorporate emerging technology, we must master it better than our adversaries. In order to conduct and enable both human and technical collection of intelligence, more CIA officers are going to have to become as comfortable with lines of code as they are with handling human assets and sources.
Now to be clear, while mastery of technology is critical to mission success, the choices made by human beings will still determine the direction we go. Good intelligence is always going to require good judgement, and only people can decide which path to follow.
So, we must always embrace technology as an embedded—and lasting—part of our work.
One that spans every mission and location around the globe.
One that helps us best our adversaries at every turn.
And one that will remind our officers, when they survey the global landscape years down the road, that they weren’t just trying to be somebody. Instead, they remained focused on the far more critical mission of doing something. And in the end, they did something, something important. And they did it very, very well.
Thank you very much.
* * * * *