003: Nand Mulchandani - The CIA's Chief Technology Officer

Nand Mulchandani joined the Central Intelligence Agency as its first-ever Chief Technology officer in 2022, but his career started a long way from Langley.  With degrees from Cornell, Harvard, and Stanford, he spent more than 25 years in tech as a serial entrepreneur and senior executive.  He then served as the Chief Technology Officer and Acting Director of the U.S. Department of Defense Joint Artificial Intelligence Center (JAIC), before joining the CIA.

In this episode of the Defense Tech Underground, Nand discusses working astride the worlds of Silicon Valley and Washington DC, and what the government can do to better adopt new technology for national security.  Nand discusses the importance of software-defined warfare, the role tech plays in the intelligence community, and why the US needs more technologists in government.

This episode is hosted by Jeff Phaneuf and Kyle Kennedy.

Full Bio: 

Nand Mulchandani joined the CIA as Chief Technology Officer in June 2022. In this role, he focuses on driving CIA’s efforts in leveraging cutting-edge and future innovations to further CIA’s mission. He previously served as the Chief Technology Officer and Acting Director of the U.S. Department of Defense Joint Artificial Intelligence Center (JAIC). Prior to that, he spent 25+ years in the technology industry as a serial entrepreneur and senior executive in the enterprise infrastructure and security software industry as co- founder & CEO of Oblix (acquired by Oracle), Determina (acquired by VMware), OpenDNS (acquired by Cisco), and ScaleXtreme (acquired by Citrix), and as an EIR at the venture capital firm Accel Partners.

Mulchandani holds a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and Mathematics from Cornell University, a Master of Science in Management from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business, and a Master of Public Administration from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.