Advertisement

Intelligence community gets new CIO in Adele Merritt

Adele Merritt officially took the role, which is within the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, in late January.
CIA
A man crosses the Central Intelligence Agency seal in the lobby of CIA Headquarters in Langley, Virginia, on August 14, 2008. (Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)

Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines announced Adele Merritt as the new CIO of the intelligence community on Monday.

Merritt officially took the role, housed under the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, in late January.

Michael Waschull had been serving as acting CIO of the IC since January 2021 and will continue on in his official role as deputy CIO.

“Dr. Merritt will lead our ongoing modernization efforts to transform the IC Information Technology Enterprise, ensure the security of the IC’s Information Technology systems, and enhance IT cooperation within the IC,” Haines said in her announcement. “Dr. Merritt brings over 20 years of technical, analytic, and policy expertise in cyber and national security operations to the role. Her accomplishments span the U.S. government.”

Advertisement

Within that portfolio, she’ll also be responsible for the continued rollout of the IC multi-cloud offering, the Commercial Cloud Enterprise (C2E) program.

Merritt comes to the IC after serving most recently as a program manager for Dreamport, a nonprofit associated with the Maryland Innovation and Security Institute and created by U.S. Cyber Command. Prior to that, she spent time in government as principal deputy CIO for cyber at the Department of Energy and as acting senior director for intelligence programs on the National Security Council during the Obama administration.

She’ll be the first permanent CIO for the IC since Matthew Kozma stepped away from the role. Before that, John Sherman — now serving as the CIO at the Department of Defense — held the role for several years.

Billy Mitchell

Written by Billy Mitchell

Billy Mitchell is Senior Vice President and Executive Editor of Scoop News Group's editorial brands. He oversees operations, strategy and growth of SNG's award-winning tech publications, FedScoop, StateScoop, CyberScoop, EdScoop and DefenseScoop. Prior to joining Scoop News Group in early 2014, Billy embedded himself in Washington, DC's tech startup scene for a year as a tech reporter at InTheCapital, now known as DC Inno. After earning his degree at Virginia Tech and winning the school's Excellence in Print Journalism award, Billy received his master's degree from New York University in magazine writing while interning at publications like Rolling Stone.

Latest Podcasts