Barb McNamara

Senior Member Advisory Board

 

From 1963 to 2000, Barb held a variety of management and leadership positions within the National Security Agency interacting on a regular basis with other Department of Defense and Intelligence Community organizations and culminating in 1997 with her appointment as the Deputy Director. From 2000 to 2003, she served as a member of the US Embassy Country Team in London, England serving as the US Senior Liaison Officer to the United Kingdom on matters of Cryptography. Since retiring from Federal Service in 2003, she has served on a number of corporate and advisory Boards. She is currently a consultant to the Institute of Defense Analysis and serves as a Director on the Boards of Signalscape Inc; Intec Billing Inc; Hazard Management Solutions Inc; and as a member of the Advisory Board of MasterPeace Solutions and the Intelligence and National Security Alliance.    

Barb was the NSA’s Deputy Director from October 1997 until June 2000, prior to becoming NSA’s Senior U.S. Liaison Officer in London, England (a post traditionally awarded to NSA Deputy Directors before they retire.) After joining the agency in 1963 as a Chinese linguist, she rose through a number of analytic, operational, and managerial positions before leaving the Operational Directorate in1983. Barb became the first woman to be named Deputy Director of Operations, in 1994.