Dr. Adele Merritt

Chief Information Officer

Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI)

Dr. Adele Merritt assumed her duties as the Intelligence Community Chief Information Officer (IC CIO) on 24 January 2022. In this capacity, she is responsible for leading the IC’s ongoing modernization efforts to transform the IC Information Technology Enterprise (IC ITE) and other areas of the IC Information Environment, working to ensure the security of the IC’s information technology (IT) systems, and enhancing IT cooperation within the IC.


Dr. Merritt has over 20 years of demonstrated technical, analytic, and policy expertise in support of cyber and national security operations. Dr. Merritt began her career at the National Security Agency as an applied research mathematician. In addition to holding various positions within the Intelligence Community, she completed a joint duty assignment at the Federal Bureau of Investigation, was the Principal Deputy Chief Information Officer for Cyber at the Department of Energy, and served as a Director and Acting Senior Director for Intelligence Programs on the National Security Council Staff at the White House during the Obama Administration.


Dr. Merritt led a public-private partnership focused on addressing cyber threats to U.S. national security systems and critical infrastructure. Most recently, she was the Program Director at MISI, a non-profit focused on advancing cybersecurity innovation and collaboration through partnerships with industry, academia, and government.


Dr. Merritt was a National Security Fellow at Harvard’s Kennedy School. She earned a Bachelor of Science and a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance from Pace University in New York, and a Master of Science and Ph.D. in Mathematics from the University of Rhode Island. Dr. Merritt and her husband are proud parents of grown twins.

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