John Bradley Sherman is an American intelligence official who had served as the chief information officer at the

Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD, or DOD) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government charged with coordinating and supervising the six U.S. armed services: the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Space Force, ...

from December 17, 2021 to June 2024. Prior to that, he served from June 2020 to January 2021 as the Principal Deputy DOD Chief Information Officer. Between 2017 and 2020 he served as Associate Director and Chief Information Officer of the Intelligence Community (IC) at the

Office of the Director of National Intelligence The director of national intelligence (DNI) is a cabinet-level United States government intelligence and security official. The position is required by the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 to serve as executive head o ...

Education

Sherman graduated from

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, TA&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of ...

with a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

History History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

, where he also served as Commander of the

Texas A&M University Corps of Cadets The Texas A&M University Corps of Cadets (often The Corps of Cadets, or simply the Corps) is a student military organization at Texas A&M University. Established with the university in 1876, it is the oldest student organization on campus. Student ...

. He later earned a Master's in Public Administration from the

University of Houston The University of Houston (; ) is a Public university, public research university in Houston, Texas, United States. It was established in 1927 as Houston Junior College, a coeducational institution and one of multiple junior colleges formed in ...

. Following graduation from Texas A&M, he was a US Army

Air Defense Artillery The Air Defense Artillery Branch is the Anti-aircraft warfare, air defense branch of the United States Army, specializing in the use of anti-aircraft weapons (such as surface-to-air missiles) to conduct anti-aircraft warfare operations. In the ...

officer in the 24th Infantry Division. He is a graduate of the

Capstone course, ODNI's "Leading the IC" course, and the CIA Director's Seminar.

Career

Sherman was formerly the deputy director of CIA's Open Source Enterprise (OSE). Before that, he served in several senior executive positions at NGA, dealing with analysis, collection,

homeland security Homeland security is an American national security term for "the national effort to ensure a homeland that is safe, secure, and resilient against terrorism and other hazards where American interests, aspirations, and ways of life can thrive" to ...

, organizational strategy, and international affairs. Previously, Sherman was the principal deputy national intelligence officer for military issues on the

National Intelligence Council The National Intelligence Council (NIC), established in 1979 and reporting to the Director of National Intelligence, bridges the United States Intelligence Community (IC) with policy makers in the United States. The NIC produces the "Global Trend ...

, and as a White House Situation Room duty officer. During his tour in the Situation Room, he was on duty during the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

. He began his IC career in 1997 as a CIA imagery analyst assigned to the former National Imagery and Mapping Agency, now known as the

National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) is a combat support agency within the United States Department of Defense whose primary mission is collecting, analyzing, and distributing geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) to support national se ...

Trump Administration

On August 18, 2017, President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

nominated Sherman to be Chief Information Officer of the

US Intelligence Community The United States Intelligence Community (IC) is a group of separate US federal government, U.S. federal government intelligence agencies and subordinate organizations that work to conduct Intelligence assessment, intelligence activities which ...

. Among other priorities, Sherman focused on what he characterized as "The Second Epoch of the Intelligence Community Information Technology Enterprise." Sherman stepped down from the Intelligence CIO position in June 2020, at which time he moved to the Department of Defense to serve as the Principal Deputy Chief Information Officer.

Biden administration

At the beginning of the Biden Administration, Sherman was named the Acting Department of Defense Chief Information Officer. On September 16, 2021, President

Joe Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...

nominated Sherman to be the Chief Information Officer in the Department of Defense. The

Senate Armed Services Committee The Committee on Armed Services, sometimes abbreviated SASC for Senate Armed Services Committee, is a committee of the United States Senate empowered with legislative oversight of the nation's military, including the Department of Defen ...

held hearings on his nomination on October 28, 2021. On December 8, 2021, the committee favorably reported Sherman's nomination to the Senate floor. The entire

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

confirmed his nomination via voice vote on December 14, 2021. During Sherman's tenure as CIO, he led the Department of Defense's shift to a multi-cloud environment with its award of the Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability. Additionally, in early 2022, Sherman was named the Department of Defense Acting Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Officer. After two and a half years it was reported that Sherman would step down from the role at the end of June in 2024.

Academia

On June 6, 2024, Texas A&M announced that Sherman was selected as the next Dean of the

Bush School of Government and Public Service The Bush School of Government & Public Service is an academic college of Texas A&M University founded in 1997 under former President of the United States, President George H. W. Bush's philosophy that "public service is a noble calling." Since t ...

, effective August 1, 2024.

Awards and personal life

Sherman has received the Distinguished and Meritorious

Presidential Rank Awards The Presidential Rank Awards program is an individual award program granted by the United States government to career Senior Executive Service (SES) members and Senior Career Employees within the OPM-allocated Senior-Level (SL) or Scientific-Profe ...

, the

Intelligence Medal of Merit The Intelligence Medal of Merit is awarded by the Central Intelligence Agency for performance of especially meritorious service or for achievement conspicuously above normal duties. Notable recipients *Gust Avrakotos *I. Nathan Briggs *George Ca ...

, NGA's Meritorious Civilian Service Medal, and Canada's Chief of Defence Intelligence Medallion. He is married with two grown children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sherman, John United States Department of Defense officials First Trump administration personnel Biden administration personnel Texas A&M University alumni University of Houston alumni Living people Year of birth missing (living people)