Rear Adm. Nancy Norton, the deputy director of the Defense Information Systems Agency, is slated to take over as the agency’s dual-hatted director, according to a Nov. 30 release from the Defense Department.
Norton has been nominated for promotion to the rank of vice admiral, and for assignment as DISA director and commander, Joint Forces Headquarters-Department of Defense Information Network. DISA and JFHQ-DoDIN are headquartered at Fort Meade, Maryland.
DISA oversees nearly $11 billion in defense technology programs and serves as the Defense Department’s de facto IT agency.
Norton arrived at DISA in early August, where she headed after serving as director of warfare integration for information warfare in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations.
“My top priority is enabling the war fighter – it’s all about mission support and we can ensure and increase the lethality of the men and women out there, soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines around the world and the C4I capabilities they depend on,” Norton told C4ISRNET in September.
The deputy director role isn’t Norton’s first stint at DISA. In 2004 and 2005 she served as a telecommunications commander for the Navy in Bahrain before heading up command, control, communications and cyber for U.S. Pacific Command.
Norton holds a bachelor’s degree in general science from Portland State University and masters’ degrees in computer science from the Naval Postgraduate School and in national security and strategic studies from the Naval War College.
It is unclear whether current DISA Director Lt. Gen. Alan Lynn will be retiring or moving on to another assignment.
