New DARPA chief selected

The Pentagon has tapped Anthony Tether, president and chief executive officer of the Sequoia Group, to head the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

Tether, who founded the Sequoia Group in 1996, will replace Frank Fernandez, a holdover from the Clinton administration. Tether will be responsible for managing the agency's research and development of high-risk, revolutionary technologies.

The Sequoia Group provided program management and strategy development services to government and industry.

Tether also has held positions in the Defense Department, serving as director of DARPA's Strategic Technology Office from 1982 through 1986, and as director of the National Intelligence Office in the Office of the Secretary of Defense from 1978 to 1982.

Following his government service, Tether has been chief executive officer for Dynamics Technology Inc., vice president of Science Applications International Corp.'s advanced technology sector, and vice president and general manager for range systems at SAIC. He also spent six years as vice president for technology and advanced development at Ford Aerospace Corp., which was acquired by Loral Corp. during that period.

He also has served on the Army Science Board and the Defense Science Board as well as on the Office of National Drug Control Policy's Research and Development Committee.

Tether earned a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1964, a master's degree in 1965 and doctoral degree in 1969 in electrical engineering from Stanford University.