In April 2022, the CIA decided to move to the right on Nand Mulchandani, appointing him as its first chief technology officer. It looks good for the CIA. Mulchandani, who previously served as CTO and acting director of the Defense Department’s Joint Artificial Intelligence Center, is a rare breed in Washington. Before becoming a government employee, he founded and served as CEO of several Bay Area outfits with names that resemble Silicon Valley: Oblix, Determina, OpenDNS, and ScaleXtreme, each held by the tech titans (Oracle, VMware, Cisco, and Citrix). . Mulchandani could soon be surrounded by fellow founders and techies as the Trump administration swept Washington with powerful advisers like Elon Musk. We spoke recently with Mulchandani about these changes and the impact they could have – and whether he hopes to be a part of it. This is an ongoing question because Mulchandani was not hand-picked by the president and his boss, CIA Director William Burns, will step down, replaced by John Ratcliffe, a former congressman from Texas who was Trump’s handpicked director of national intelligence. during Trump’s first term. The following has been edited for length. What conversations are happening now before the Trump administration comes in? The big picture is that no one thinks there is a big change in technology and China. When Director Burns joined, the focus and redirection and emphasis for this agency was basically in the competition of great power. The way we like to talk about it is kinetic warfare [i.e. conventional combat] and everything happens in this world. But the next generation of competition is economic competition and at its heart is technological competition. So the way he sets strategic priorities for the agency is basically focusing on China and, again, pivoting to technology. So launching [two new mission centers in 2021, one focused on China and another dedicated to transnational and technological threats] and then creating the CTO role as a major organizational change is implemented. And honestly… that will be a priority for any administration that comes in… Obviously, we hear a lot about DOGE and Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy’s plans to shrink – or at least suggest ways to shrink – the size of government. Has anyone from Musk’s camp talked to anyone at the CIA? Jared Birchall, the head of Musk’s family office, reportedly spoke, for example, with a candidate for the State Department. I can’t talk about the specific presidential transition that will take place across the government. What I can say – although this is not a comment on DOGE itself, but one of the main themes that we are pushing – is the technological capabilities of government processes and government … activities. So I can’t comment specifically on what it will do. What is the cost? What is technology deployment at scale? Our focus is like all of the above … I mean, it’s crazy not to be very focused, and we are. In any transition, you’re going to get people trying to decide what to prioritize. At the CIA, would you say that’s a priority? There are evergreen issues that will last forever. One is to focus on data insights, and I know it sounds like a bingo word, but specifically AI – to be distributed. [the right way should be a priority]. If we had a whiteboard, what I would draw for you is a data funnel that is all over the world and growing. As an intelligence agency, we are very hungry for data, whether it is the collection of human intelligence, electronic, geo… It is the core of the intelligence service. The problem is that the funnel and the scope and the size and the size of the data that’s in there are increasing every day, and you can find more data to inhale and bring in – some of it good, some of it rubbish. With that funnel continuing to grow endlessly, we need to constantly improve our infrastructure and systems and applications… Number two [ties to] the growing side of defense technology and disruptive Silicon Valley corporate ideas are now leaning toward military technology and leaning toward national security and service products and services. These trends are important trends for us to continue to support. Other than great [related] The initiatives we have taken and have added are: How do we lower the bar dramatically to commercial technology? This is what is called an inbound arc. The other part is, how do we implement our requirements? So as a spy agent, as an intelligence agency, we culturally cannot talk to the outside about issues and problem sets and initiatives and strategic things; We have traditionally been very quiet or very cagey about this type of thing. Obviously we have to maintain our work, but now we have another initiative that will start next month or so where we will talk directly to investors, VCs, and startups. [about these needs] … as opposed to focusing tactically only on procurement or acquisition or other pieces. Speaking of VCs, what do you think on a personal level about people like Marc Andreessen advising President Trump on hiring? Obviously, they are very smart people, but sometimes their skill sets are not transferable to other industries. I would say that is out of my pay grade. I mean, I know a lot of these guys, and obviously they’re smart. I’ll give you my personal experience – and obviously I can’t give the president direct advice on non-technology. But what ended up happening is that as a former CEO, as an entrepreneur, the thing that I often talk about in agencies at our leadership level is the business model. My CS degree I hope I can tell you [technology]. The other side of the experience that I bring to the table is running that business and making business decisions, and my feeling is that that experience and that point of view is really valuable in Washington. Sometimes I feel that in government, we don’t often talk about business models and how we do it efficiently, how we measure it, how technology destroys business models, how we can create new business models. Many projects that I have been brought in or have been involved with, I always try to open with: How our business model is changing in the CIA? As a human intelligence organization in the world of technology, in the world of AI, in the world of great power competition, in the world of difficult targets to continue to do business, what will the CIA’s business model look like in five, 10, 20 years from now, and how will it change? You are not a political appointee. Do you want to stay if that’s an option or are you ready to go back to Silicon Valley? I know you’ve been traveling between coasts for the past five years. That is an almost daily discussion with my husband and children. I’m actually in the East Bay [of San Francisco] now, where we live. My husband has got a career. Our children are settled. We have close relatives. So I have been commuting almost every week to Washington or other places that the agency, and DOD [before this]sent me or needed me. And I have to be honestwith you, the mileage is showing now… The broader issue that I am still concerned about is that there are not enough Valley people in DC, and that is what I am very concerned about. about. When I look at DC, I can literally count the number of people who have been in the same position as me, I mean [they have] deep color in the Valley. This is a big commitment, especially for people with children and families. Can you see the day when the CIA creates a second hub on the West Coast? Now, we are settled in our headquarters [in Langley, Virginia]. But if he really brings new thinking to this administration, and he wants more tech people, who knows?
