Michael Gloss, the 21-year-old son of a senior CIA official, was killed in April 2024 while fighting for Russian forces in Ukraine after signing a military contract with Moscow. Gloss, whose mother Juliane Gallina Gloss serves as the CIA's Deputy Director for Digital Innovation, died during an assault near Bakhmut, according to a detailed investigation by Russian outlet Important Stories.
Gloss, who once studied human ecology at the College of the Atlantic in Maine, had spent time traveling across Europe and volunteering in Turkey before arriving in Russia in August 2023. On September 5, border records show he entered a Moscow recruitment center for foreign volunteers and enlisted in the Russian military. He was assigned to the 137th Airborne Regiment in Ryazan.
According to a Russian soldier who served with him, "He was a staunch supporter of Russia and loved it." Photographs later showed Gloss at the regiment's base. The same soldier said the two exchanged letters with a local institute about "inventions and innovations" Gloss hoped could help the military effort.
Gloss's motivations for joining Russia's war effort were described by friends as a mix of ecological ambition and political ideology. One acquaintance recalled Gloss saying, "My goal in life is to build infrastructure for oxidizing water in a supercritical state. To end environmental pollution and related diseases and deaths." He reportedly believed Russian citizenship would help achieve this.
Son of CIA Deputy Director reportedly dies fighting for Russia
Michael Gloss, 21, son of CIA Deputy Director for Digital Innovation Juliane Gallina
Reportedly enlisted in Russian Army in September 2023, fed up with Western hegemony
Died April 4, 2024 — iStories investigation pic.twitter.com/k7ZRokP54e — RT (@RT_com) April 25, 2025
Messages obtained by Important Stories and members of the Rainbow Family, a countercultural group Gloss joined in Europe, show a more ideological shift. In group chats, he praised imperialism as a vehicle for peace, writing, "It is the larger, imperialist nation that brings peace through military victory." He also adopted a Russian alias-Hamza Ali-and posted pro-Kremlin sentiments on Russian social media, identifying as "a supporter of a multipolar world" and someone who "hates fascism."
Gloss's service in the Russian military remained unknown to the public until months after his death. His family held a memorial service in Fairfax County, Virginia, on December 21, 2024. His obituary stated, "With his noble heart and warrior spirit Michael was forging his own hero's journey when he was tragically killed in Eastern Europe on April 4, 2024." It did not mention he died fighting for Russia.
His enlistment came just weeks before his mother was promoted to her senior role at the CIA in February 2024. His father, Larry Gloss, is a U.S. Navy veteran who participated in Operation Desert Storm and later worked for a defense contractor.
