Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) Chief Information Officer Doug Cossa has taken over as acting CIO for the U.S. intelligence community, according to his LinkedIn post on Dec. 21.
Cossa had been serving as CIO at DIA since July 2021, and before that as deputy CIO since June 2018.
In his new role, Cossa replaces Adele Merritt who was recently named CIO for the National Institutes of Health.
While working at DIA Cossa spearheaded initiatives to improve the agency’s intelligence capabilities and modernize DIA’s digital infrastructure – including performing a “tech refresh” on the Joint Worldwide Intelligence Communication System (JWICS) network, which supports hundreds of thousands of users and safeguards the Defense Department and IC’s most sensitive intelligence information.
As the IC acting CIO, Cossa will lead the IC’s modernization efforts, integrate technology such as artificial intelligence and cloud services, and ensure the security of the IC’s information technology systems.
Cossa holds a Bachelors degree in Computer Information Systems from James Madison University and a Master’s degree in Systems Engineering from the Johns Hopkins University.
