Adele Johanna Josiger Merritt is an American applied mathematician and intelligence official serving as the U.S. associate director of national intelligence and chief information officer.

Life

Merritt earned a Bachelor of Science and a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance from Pace University. She completed a Master of Science and Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Rhode Island. Her 1999 dissertation was titled ''Advances in Z-cyclic whist and triple whist tournaments''. Norman Joseph Finizio was her doctoral advisor. Merritt was a national security fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School. Merritt began her career at the National Security Agency as an applied research mathematician. In addition to holding various positions within the

U.S. Intelligence Community The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

(IC), she completed a joint duty assignment at the

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, t ...

, was the principal deputy chief information officer for cyber at the

U.S. Department of Energy The United States Department of Energy (DOE) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government that oversees U.S. national energy policy and manages the research and development of nuclear power and nuclear weapons in the United States. ...

, and served as a director and acting senior director for intelligence programs on the

National Security Council A national security council (NSC) is usually an executive branch governmental body responsible for coordinating policy on national security issues and advising chief executives on matters related to national security. An NSC is often headed by a na ...

staff during the

Obama administration Barack Obama's tenure as the 44th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 2009, and ended on January 20, 2017. A Democrat from Illinois, Obama took office following a decisive victory over Republican ...

. Merritt led a public-private partnership focused on addressing

cyber threats A cyberattack is any offensive maneuver that targets computer information systems, computer networks, infrastructures, or personal computer devices. An attacker is a person or process that attempts to access data, functions, or other restricted ...

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. In 2022, Merritt was nominated by U.S. president Joe Biden to serve as the

associate director of national intelligence and chief information officer In the United States the Associate Director of National Intelligence and Chief Information Officer (Intelligence Community CIO, ADNI/CIO or IC CIO) is charged with directing and managing activities relating to information technology for the Intell ...

. She started in this role on January 24, 2022. Merritt and her husband are the parents of twins.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Merritt, Adele Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American women scientists 21st-century American mathematicians 21st-century American women mathematicians American applied mathematicians Obama administration personnel Biden administration personnel National Security Agency people Federal Bureau of Investigation personnel United States Department of Energy officials Chief information officers Pace University alumni University of Rhode Island alumni