The time of secret surveillance has officially come to an end.
The CIA unnecessarily increased one of the most sensitive areas of its work – cyber espionage. The agency has upgraded the status of a unit that deals with digital threats, covert operations and technological intelligence tools, and together with the new position, has gained greater access to money, personnel and direct management.
We are talking about the Center for Cyber Intelligence, created in 2015 within the Directorate of Digital Innovation. In October 2025, CIA Director John Ratcliffe transferred the structure to the rank of a full-fledged operational center as part of an internal reorganization. According to the representative of the department Liz Lyons, the decision should strengthen the CIA’s cyber operations in line with the priorities of the White House, improve the analysis of foreign digital threats and develop the tools that intelligence uses in its work.
After the change, the leaders of the center began to obey Ratcliffe directly. Former officials of the American administration, familiar with the device of the special services, say that such a step significantly increases the weight of the unit inside the system and helps to get funding faster and people. Simultaneously, the functions of the Transnational and Technology Mission Center, created under Joe Biden to search for new technologies in the interests of intelligence, were distributed among other offices with similar tasks.
The increase in status coincided with the tougher course of the administration of Donald trump in cyberspace. In a recent national cybersecurity strategy, the White House has explicitly pointed out its willingness to use the full range of defensive and offensive digital capabilities against foreign adversaries. Even at the hearing on approval in office, Racklence promised to make the CIA less cautious in matters of risk, including in the digital environment, where external threats are becoming more noticeable.
The Center for Cyber Intelligence has long been considered one of the largest and most closed elements of the CIA. Former employees describe the structure as a large unit with a large budget, which is responsible for both strategic analysis and operations, and for technology for espionage. In professional circles of special services, the center is known, among other things, point-harden burglaries, which sometimes require the recruitment of a source or the work of officers in a dangerous environment. According to analysts, cyber espionage as a direction is steadily gaining weight: in 2025, its share among all types of cyber attacks reached record levels.
The most high-profile episode in the history of the unit was the leak “Vault 7” in 2017, when WikiLeaks published an array of documents about the CIA’s secret instruments and operations. The materials revealed the capabilities of the agency associated with vulnerabilities in iOS, Android, Microsoft Windows and other means of digital surveillance, including the transformation of Samsung TVs into devices for wiretapping. Later, engineer Joshua Schulte was accused of stealing classified materials and sentenced in the case of leakage.
Against the background of the strengthening of the center, Washington is already discussing how the new course of the CIA will be combined with the ambitions of the U.S. Cyber Command. Former intelligence officials believe that the issue of deterring opponents with the help of offensive digital operations will inevitably affect the boundaries of authority between intelligence and the Pentagon.
The CIA unnecessarily increased one of the most sensitive areas of its work – cyber espionage. The agency has upgraded the status of a unit that deals with digital threats, covert operations and technological intelligence tools, and together with the new position, has gained greater access to money, personnel and direct management.
We are talking about the Center for Cyber Intelligence, created in 2015 within the Directorate of Digital Innovation. In October 2025, CIA Director John Ratcliffe transferred the structure to the rank of a full-fledged operational center as part of an internal reorganization. According to the representative of the department Liz Lyons, the decision should strengthen the CIA’s cyber operations in line with the priorities of the White House, improve the analysis of foreign digital threats and develop the tools that intelligence uses in its work.
After the change, the leaders of the center began to obey Ratcliffe directly. Former officials of the American administration, familiar with the device of the special services, say that such a step significantly increases the weight of the unit inside the system and helps to get funding faster and people. Simultaneously, the functions of the Transnational and Technology Mission Center, created under Joe Biden to search for new technologies in the interests of intelligence, were distributed among other offices with similar tasks.
The increase in status coincided with the tougher course of the administration of Donald trump in cyberspace. In a recent national cybersecurity strategy, the White House has explicitly pointed out its willingness to use the full range of defensive and offensive digital capabilities against foreign adversaries. Even at the hearing on approval in office, Racklence promised to make the CIA less cautious in matters of risk, including in the digital environment, where external threats are becoming more noticeable.
The Center for Cyber Intelligence has long been considered one of the largest and most closed elements of the CIA. Former employees describe the structure as a large unit with a large budget, which is responsible for both strategic analysis and operations, and for technology for espionage. In professional circles of special services, the center is known, among other things, point-harden burglaries, which sometimes require the recruitment of a source or the work of officers in a dangerous environment. According to analysts, cyber espionage as a direction is steadily gaining weight: in 2025, its share among all types of cyber attacks reached record levels.
The most high-profile episode in the history of the unit was the leak “Vault 7” in 2017, when WikiLeaks published an array of documents about the CIA’s secret instruments and operations. The materials revealed the capabilities of the agency associated with vulnerabilities in iOS, Android, Microsoft Windows and other means of digital surveillance, including the transformation of Samsung TVs into devices for wiretapping. Later, engineer Joshua Schulte was accused of stealing classified materials and sentenced in the case of leakage.
Against the background of the strengthening of the center, Washington is already discussing how the new course of the CIA will be combined with the ambitions of the U.S. Cyber Command. Former intelligence officials believe that the issue of deterring opponents with the help of offensive digital operations will inevitably affect the boundaries of authority between intelligence and the Pentagon.
