What the CIA Can Teach Us About Ethical Leadership in High-Stakes Environments
Based on academic research by Caroline Walsh
In today’s unpredictable world, leaders across industries face growing pressure to navigate ethical dilemmas, balance competing interests, and inspire trust. While many turn to the corporate world or academia for answers, surprising lessons can be found in one of the most secretive and high-stakes organizations in the world: the CIA.
The CIA and Ethics? Really?
This work examines how officers made sense of their leadership experience at the micromorality level, which is the human-to-human level of engagement within the workplace. It acknowledges that while decision-making at the macromorality level in U.S. national security is often deeply ethically ambiguous, involving evaluating societal-level ethics and the broader impacts of the CIA’s mission, at the micromorality level, leaders at the CIA are tasked with navigating interpersonal dynamics, organizational norms, and individual ethical dilemmas, balancing their personal values with the practical demands of their roles to uphold integrity and mission success. This research and its findings are focused on the micromorality level, examining how CIA leaders ensured, did not ensure, or struggled to ensure — that at the human-level, people were operating with a level of ethics and integrity.
Interestingly, according to moral development theories, despite a common public image of the CIA being ethically problematic, CIA officers actually operate in an environment uniquely suited to fostering high levels of moral and leadership development, if attention and commitment is drawn to this potential. The very nature of their work — making high-stakes decisions, navigating ethical dilemmas, and influencing global outcomes — creates conditions that push individuals to grow beyond their current capabilities. Interviews with former officers revealed how the challenges of their roles not only honed their professional skills but also cultivated their ability to act with moral clarity and lead with integrity.
The structure of CIA roles further enhances potential for this development. Positions like that of a case officer require individuals to exercise significant autonomy, take responsibility for their decisions, and influence their environments. This sense of agency builds self-efficacy — a belief in one’s ability to effect change — which is foundational to moral action and leadership. Officers who see themselves as capable of shaping outcomes have the foundational confidence to to take decisive, ethically grounded actions in moments of uncertainty, should other conditions and ethical considerations be present.
Additionally, the organizational culture of the CIA supports moral development by encouraging decision-making at all levels and fostering a sense of individual responsibility. Officers are expected to resolve conflicts, make judgment calls, and consider diverse perspectives — skills that naturally enhance their moral reasoning. This contrasts with rigid, hierarchical organizations, where decisions are centralized and opportunities for personal growth are limited. The CIA’s emphasis on autonomy and accountability creates fertile ground for leaders to develop the moral clarity and leadership skills necessary to succeed in their roles, should the learning and development exist to support their process.
Ultimately, the demands of CIA work — balancing autonomy with accountability, navigating ambiguity, and resolving high-stakes dilemmas — create an environment where officers have the opportunity to not only grow as professionals, but also evolve as moral agents and leaders. These experiences demonstrate how job characteristics and organizational culture can shape ethical leadership and decision-making, offering valuable insights for organizations far beyond the intelligence community.
The Research
Through my research with former CIA leaders, I discovered a fascinating truth: ethical leadership is not about always having the perfect answer or being flawless — it’s about grappling with complexity, embracing moral courage, and making the best possible decision in challenging, often ambiguous situations.
It’s about accountability, navigating ambiguity, and staying true to values, even when the stakes are as high as national security. These leaders work in an environment where the lines between right and wrong are often blurred, where rules can bend, and where decisions can carry life-or-death consequences. Despite this, or perhaps because of it, many officers developed practices of accountability, self-development, and communication that are as relevant in the boardroom as they are in the field.
However, it’s essential to note that the CIA’s culture didn’t always make room for ethics and morals as priorities. Social norms within the organization sometimes excluded these considerations, favoring operational efficiency or personal advancement. Navigating this culture required courage, persistence, and, in many cases, a willingness to stand apart from the crowd. The participants I interviewed often described moments where their commitment to doing the right thing — both legally and morally — set them apart. In environments where some leaders chose expediency over integrity, these officers stood firm, holding themselves accountable to higher standards.
Accountability: See the Problem, Own the Problem, Do Something About the Problem
Accountability was a recurring theme in my conversations with CIA officers. It wasn’t just about following rules — it was about holding themselves and others responsible for doing the right thing, even when it was uncomfortable or unpopular. One officer shared a story of risking his career to speak “truth to power,” challenging senior leadership to prevent a decision he believed would jeopardize the mission. This wasn’t an easy choice — truth-telling at the CIA often led to exclusion from meetings, stalled promotions, or damage to one’s reputation. Yet, as he reflected, “The right thing is rarely the easy thing, but it’s always the thing you have to live with.”
This commitment to accountability often required stepping outside organizational norms, which sometimes valued silence or complicity over confrontation. Leaders who chose to act ethically had to navigate a culture that didn’t always reward their choices, reinforcing the importance of moral courage in leadership.
Navigating Ethical Gray Areas
Unlike the corporate world, where rules and guidelines can provide clear boundaries, the CIA often operates in ethically ambiguous spaces. Officers must weigh personal values, organizational norms, and mission goals in every decision. One leader described this process as “intelligent disobedience” — choosing to defy orders to act in alignment with higher principles.
Not every officer in the CIA navigated these gray areas with integrity, and some decisions reflected the organization’s flaws, including biases and lapses in judgment. But the participants I interviewed described their deep sense of personal responsibility to rise above these pressures. They relied on their internal moral compass, even when the culture around them pushed in another direction.
This ability to make decisions in gray areas isn’t unique to the intelligence community. Leaders in business, education, and nonprofits face similar challenges, from balancing profits with ethical considerations to addressing systemic inequities. The lesson? Ethical decision-making requires not only a strong moral foundation but also the resilience to stand firm when norms or peer pressure suggest otherwise.
Creating Cultures of Integrity
Another key takeaway was the importance of creating environments where ethical behavior is the norm — even when the larger culture resisted it. CIA leaders spoke about holding others accountable not just for clear violations like financial misconduct but also for subtler behaviors that undermined team cohesion, such as harassment or operational shortcuts.
One officer shared a story of addressing inappropriate relationships in the workplace, which, while not illegal, posed risks to team dynamics and trust. His decision to intervene was unpopular but necessary, reflecting his belief that accountability extended beyond just following the law.
This insight resonates across sectors. Whether managing a tech team or leading a nonprofit, building trust and integrity starts with leaders who enforce clear standards and embody them in their actions.
Why These Lessons Matter
In a time when leaders are grappling with challenges like AI ethics, climate change, and crises of trust, the principles of accountability, moral clarity, and communication have never been more critical. While most of us don’t operate in the high-stakes world of the CIA, the lessons these officers shared are universal. They remind us that leadership is not about always having the right answer — it’s about having the courage to ask the right questions and act with integrity, even when doing so is socially or professionally risky.
These themes, and many more, are explored in my upcoming book, Moral Bearings: Navigating Accountability, Self-Development, and Communication in the Shadows of National Security (draft title). Drawing on interviews with ten former CIA leaders, the book bridges the gap between abstract theories of leadership and the lived experiences of decision-makers, offering actionable insights for leaders across industries.
Ethical leadership isn’t easy, but as the CIA officers I interviewed demonstrated, it is possible — and it starts with accountability.