DOD Appoints David Cattler as DCSA Director

The Department of Defense has named David Cattler as the new director of the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency, replacing Daniel Lecce, who has served in an acting capacity since September 2023.

Cattler brings leadership, intelligence collection and analytic experience to his new role. He previously served as an intelligence enterprise mission manager in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and as the assistant secretary general for intelligence and security at NATO.

He also held various roles at the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Joint Staff and the National Security Council, advising the president, civilian agencies, the DOD, military leaders and operational forces in the areas of intelligence and analytics, Defense .gov reported.

Cattler will take on the new role on March 24. According to the DCSA, he will be responsible for the implementation of centralized critical national security enterprise capabilities for personnel security, industrial security, counterintelligence and security training.

The DOD said the new director’s extensive experience enables him to understand the criticality of the DCSA security mission, making him the ideal candidate to lead the counterintelligence agency.