ODNI Announces Adele Merritt as New Chief Information Officer

Adele Merritt began serving as the new chief information officer in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence in late January, DNI Avril Haines announced.

Merritt took over for Michael Waschull, who had held the role in an acting capacity since January 2021. He will continue serving in his role as deputy CIO, ODNI said Tuesday.

Haines, a two-time Wash100 winner, said that Merritt will lead efforts to transform the Intelligence Community’s information technology enterprise and strengthen IT collaboration among its members. 

According to the DNI, Merrit has 20 years of experience supporting government cyber and national security operations with her technical, analytic and policy expertise.

Early in her career, Merritt served as an applied research mathematician at the National Security Agency.

She later moved on to a variety of Intelligence Community roles. Her other government roles include principal deputy CIO for cyber at the Department of Energy and director and acting senior director for intelligence programs on the Obama administration’s National Security Council.

Merritt most recently served as a program manager at DreamPort, a nonprofit cybersecurity organization co-founded by the U.S. Cyber Command, according to her DNI profile. DreamPort is a collaboration hub that provides project rooms, laboratories, cyber ranges, test networks and prototyping resources for cyber professionals.

Merritt earned bachelor’s degrees in science and business administration from Pace University. She also earned a master’s degree and a doctorate in mathematics from the University of Rhode Island.