The **CIA**'s Deputy Director **Michael Ellis** recently provided an unprecedented look into the agency's cyber capabilities, confirming that digital operations were crucial in the capture of Venezuelan President **Nicolás Maduro** earlier this year. Speaking at the Billington Cybersecurity Summit in Washington, D.C., Ellis revealed that **Operation Absolute Resolve**, which saw U.S. forces apprehend Maduro and his wife in Caracas, was made possible by a "flawless intelligence picture" derived from the **CIA**'s **Cyber Mission Center**. "Without that kind of operational picture, being driven by cyber, we wouldn't have been able to help enable U.S. special forces to identify the location of **Nicolas Maduro** and apprehend him within four minutes of landing on the ground," Ellis stated. ### Acknowledging Covert Cyber Activities Ellis's comments represent the most public acknowledgment to date of the significant role digital resources played in a major U.S. military operation. This also offers a rare glimpse into the **CIA**'s traditionally secretive cyber activities. Late last year, Director **John Ratcliffe** elevated the agency's longstanding Center for Cyber Intelligence into its own mission center. This promotion, Ellis explained, allowed for a sharper focus on the cyber mission and better alignment of resources. "[Its] status as a standalone mission center smooths out reporting chains, helps us move more agilely, and… helps us align the resources to make sure that we can bring cyber operations to bear to solve these tough intelligence problems." ### The Pervasive Future of AI in Intelligence Beyond current operations, Ellis also lauded the transformative potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI) within the intelligence community. He noted that AI offers a "host of advantages," particularly in cyber operations, where it brings "speed and scale that would be unimaginable without these AI tools." AI's benefits extend to intelligence collection, operations, and analysis. Ellis stressed that the agency would implement "appropriate safeguards," including maintaining human oversight and developing diverse approaches to avoid reliance on a single model or vendor. Both Ellis and Ratcliffe anticipate that AI will "permeate how the **CIA** is doing this work and it will change every aspect of intelligence." Officers are being encouraged to embrace these tools, and the agency is committed to providing cutting-edge AI resources swiftly to ensure their success in an evolving competitive landscape.