The CIA has appointed Lori Wade as its new Chief Learning Officer, tapping a seasoned intelligence and data leader to oversee how the Agency develops and sustains its workforce in an increasingly complex threat environment.
In the role, Wade will lead the CIA’s Learning Enterprise, overseeing directorate tradecraft schools and Agency-wide learning platforms. Her responsibilities center on advancing career-spanning intelligence acumen and ensuring that CIA personnel at every level build the knowledge, skills, and behaviors needed to support evolving missions. The Learning Enterprise is designed to deliver continuous, mission-aligned learning strategically aligned to the Agency’s vision and mission.
Wade brings more than 20 years of experience across the Intelligence Community, with a career spanning data, technology, operations, and workforce transformation. Most recently, she served as the Intelligence Community Chief Data Officer and Assistant Director of National Intelligence for Data and Partnership Interoperability, a position she assumed in May 2022. In that role, she led a strategic effort to modernize the IC’s data landscape, focusing on improving data access, interoperability, and collaboration in the digital era.
Prior to her IC-wide leadership role, Wade held several senior positions at the CIA, including Deputy Chief Data Officer and deputy director of the Agency’s Data Office. She worked across CIA directorates and mission centers to embed data expertise directly into operational environments, significantly increasing the speed and usability of data throughout the intelligence cycle. Her work emphasized practical, mission-driven solutions to long-standing data and information-sharing challenges.
Wade also served in the CIA’s Directorate of Digital Innovation, leading data and mission support efforts for the Global Issues Mission Center, the East Asia and Pacific Mission Center, and the Korea Mission Center. Earlier in her career, she held senior leadership roles at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, including Chief of the Mission Capabilities Group in the Office of the Deputy DNI for Intelligence Integration, as well as Chief Operating Officer and Chief of Staff at the National Counterterrorism Center.
Before joining ODNI in 2008, Wade worked in the private sector at Booz Allen Hamilton, where she supported missions for the National Reconnaissance Office, the FBI, and DHS Customs and Border Protection.
In recognition of her leadership and impact across the homeland security and intelligence enterprise, Wade has previously been featured as a Homeland Security Today Trailblazer.
(AI was used in part to facilitate this article.)
