About

Hi, I’m Chad.

I’m a cybersecurity leader and AI engineer. I’ve worked in enterprise technology for the U.S. Department of War since 1997.

I’m a U.S. Air Force veteran, and I live in Tokyo. My day job is leading a cybersecurity team that keeps defense healthcare systems secure and authorized to operate. I’ve held the CISSP since 2020.

Chad Thiele, smiling, with long curly hair and glasses
Fig. 1 — Actual size.

Newsletter

Chibi Things

Tiny tools and toys I build with AI, and what I learn about working with AI along the way, including how many of the Things came together.

Projects

Things I’ve made

Résumé

Experience

CISSP-certified cybersecurity leader and AI engineer. Nearly three decades in U.S. defense technology, starting with eight years of active duty in the Air Force. I also design and ship AI products in TypeScript and Svelte.

  1. 2025 — Now

    Founder & developer · Koubou

    A local-first studio for AI-assisted writing and research, with a canvas editor for chaining prompts into automated workflows.

  2. 2021 — Now

    Cybersecurity team lead · U.S. defense healthcare

    Lead a distributed team that runs security authorization for several military medical facilities under the Risk Management Framework. That covers authorization packages, POA&Ms, continuous monitoring, vulnerability management and asset tracking. Every system holds its authority to operate, and inspections have passed with no remediation required.

  3. 2021 — Now

    Founder & developer · Chibi AI

    An AI writing platform with direct access to hundreds of models and fine control over prompts. Built with TypeScript and Svelte.

  4. 2005 — 2021

    Systems engineer · U.S. defense healthcare

    Secure configuration, identity and access control, and virtualized healthcare environments for Air Force medical facilities, with 99.9% uptime for critical systems. Built a facility’s Risk Management Framework package and served as its enclave security manager.

  5. 1996 — 2004

    Active duty · U.S. Air Force

    Medical systems, network security and military healthcare operations.

  6. 2020 — Now

    Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) · ISC2

  7. 2016

    B.S., Computer and Information Science · University of Maryland