Julia Curlee is an American former intelligence officer with the CIA. She is a transgender woman and, in 2013, she became the first CIA officer to transition openly and continue serving the intelligence agency. Curlee served as a United States National Security Council director during the Biden Administration and the Second Trump Administration and was a personal daily briefer to Vice President Mike Pence. In 2025, she was fired by President Trump because she is transgender.
Early life and education Curlee grew up in Hawaii. She is the granddaughter of an immigrant. Curlee earned a master's degree from the National War College and a master's degree from American University.
Career Curlee joined the CIA in 2007. She served under four presidents, traveling to thirty countries and providing intelligence during three wars. She also served in the CIA's China Mission Center. In 2013, she became the first CIA officer to undergo a gender transition while continuing to work at the agency.
In 2017, she was appointed to the United States National Security Council. That same year, she wrote an essay, under the pseudonym Jenny Hall, for The Atlantic about how being an openly transgender person made her a better CIA agent.
During the last year of President Donald Trump's first administration, Curlee was assigned to be a presidential daily briefer, regularly briefing Vice President Mike Pence on international matters and national security. She also briefed the president on Air Force One and supported national security advisors including H. R. McMaster.
Curlee served as a director of intelligence programs under President Joe Biden.
She was removed from her position at the White House during the Second Trump Administration because she is transgender, and ultimate resigned from the CIA. Her firing came immediately after far-right influencer Laura Loomer posted on X, "SCOOP: A transgender, Biden holdover who hates President Trump is still working in the NSC intel office." Upon her firing from the White House, Curlee authored the essay The Wrong Kind of American for The Atlantic in August 2026.
She is a fellow at Lawfare, a nonprofit publication covering national security.
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