Julia Curlee spent much of her career protecting secrets. This year, she told one of her own.
In The Atlantic’s October issue, Curlee publicly recounted becoming the first CIA officer to transition openly and continue serving, briefing Vice President Mike Pence, and directing intelligence programs on the National Security Council under Presidents Joe Biden and Donald Trump. Sixty-eight days into Trump’s second term, the White House fired her without explanation after her identity became public.
After 25 years in national security, Curlee joined Lawfare as a public service fellow examining intelligence, accountability, and rebuilding institutions.
The barefoot “beach girl” raised in Hawaii once feared that being transgender could not coexist with a family, career, and full life. Trans elders, she says, supported her through her “darkest hours” and helped her find the path they had already blazed.
Her essay, “The Wrong Kind of American,” became both testimony and defiance — a refusal to let threats against LGBTQ+ officers force them into silence or invisibility. Curlee plans to keep writing about national security while living openly and unapologetically.
Her message to the world is classified no longer: “Some spies are here and queer — get used to it.” @julia.curlee
