Meyerrose tapped to be CIO of national intelligence office

The White House has announced that Air Force Maj. Gen. Dale Meyerrose will be nominated to serve as the first CIO of the newly created Office of the Director of National Intelligence, headed by John Negroponte.

Meyerrose has experience in organizing new offices. Named CIO of NORAD in June 2000, he was given additional responsibility as the first CIO for U.S. Northern Command in October 2002, the structure created in the wake of Sept. 11 to assist in homeland defense and support civil agencies as needed.

"We've had to orient our technology toward very open architectures," Meyerrose said of his work at Northcom in a February 2004 interview with Washington Technology. "We've developed a moniker about how we use technology: the need to share."

Meyerrose's experience in overcoming barriers to information sharing will be useful in his new position.

The national intelligence office was created in the intelligence reform legislation signed into law by President Bush in December 2004, and is an outgrowth of the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission. The office directs all of the agencies in the intelligence community, including the CIA, the National Security Agency, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and those in the Defense Department.

Meyerrose holds a bachelor's degree in economics from the U.S. Air Force Academy, an M.B.A. from the University of Utah and a degree from the National War College. He has served in a number of IT-related positions at Air Force bases, including director of communications for Operation Southern Watch in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Patience Wait is a senior writer for Washington Technology's sister publication, Government Computer News.