Government / Military
Donald Kerr
1979
One of the most credentialed spook-physicist figures of the era, whose career threads nearly every node of the U.S. nuclear-and-intelligence complex. Physicist at Los Alamos (from 1966) who became its 4th Director (1979-85); ran Defense Programs at the Department of Energy; President of EG&G (1989-92); executive VP at SAIC (1993-96); Assistant Director of the FBI Laboratory (1997-2001); CIA Deputy Director for Science & Technology (2001-05); 15th Director of the National Reconnaissance Office (2005-09); and Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence (2007-09). Later chairman of the MITRE Corporation. A single career sitting at the exact intersection of nuclear-weapons science, spy satellites, and the intelligence community's technical core.
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Connections (10)
executive at EG&G
Source: Wikipedia: Donald Kerr; AFIO obituary
affiliated with MITRE
Source: public biography
later served as Director of the NRO
Source: U.S. Air Force, A History of SAF/AA (Jones & Williams, AF Historical Support Division, 2019)
4th Director of Los Alamos National Laboratory (1979-85); worked there from 1966
Source: AFIO obituary (2025); Senate confirmation records
corporate executive vice president and director (1993-96)
Source: AFIO obituary (2025); Senate confirmation records
served as his Principal Deputy DNI
Source: AFIO obituary (2025); Senate confirmation records
fellow NRO director (led the NRO after Aldridge's era)
Source: Wikipedia: Donald Kerr
CIA Deputy Director for Science & Technology (2001-2005)
Source: AFIO obituary (2025); Senate confirmation records
ran DOE Nevada Operations, then acting Asst. Secretary for Defense Programs (1976-79)
Source: AFIO obituary (2025); Senate confirmation records
Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence (2007-2009)
Source: AFIO obituary (2025); Senate confirmation records