Dr. Ursula Wilder is a clinical psychologist whose 28-year career at the Central Intelligence Agency has included applying psychology to medical, operational, and analytic missions. She is the first woman psychologist promoted to the Senior Intelligence Service since CIA’s founding generation recruited Carl Jung to be an agent in WWII.

Key assignments have included CIA's Counterintelligence Center, the Directorate of Operations for post 9/11 field work in the Counterterrorism Center, the National Counterterrorism Center assessing terrorist personalities, and close to a decade in CIA’s Directorate of Analysis profiling world leaders in CIA’s storied Medical and Psychological Assessment Branch and teaching in the Sherman Kent School for Intelligence Analysis.

Dr. Wilder was sponsored by CIA to be a Federal Executive Fellow at the Brookings Institution (2012-2013) to study the psychological rewards and challenges experienced by professionals engaged in intelligence and counterterrorism. In 2023 she was appointed by the Deputy Director of CIA to a second prestigious Fellowship to investigate the implications for the future of intelligence of cutting-edge neurotechnologies allied with AI, such as brain implants and less invasive wearable cyber-psychological tech.

Dr. Wilder has received numerous awards over the years, most notably the George H. W. Bush medal for Excellence in Counterterrorism for her post-9/11 field work, and the Sherman Kent Award for her published contributions to the academic literature on intelligence. She is a sought-after CIA speaker, and has been featured in major media outlets, such as NPR, BBC, CBS, the CBC Fifth Column, and the International Spy Museum.