Norton tipped as next DISA chief

The Defense Information Systems Agency will soon get a new director: Rear Adm. Nancy Norton.

Defense Secretary James Mattis announced DISA Vice Director Norton will be promoted to vice admiral and succeed Lt. Gen. Alan Lynn as the agency director and the commander of the Joint Forces Headquarters-Department of Defense Information Network.

Lynn, who started as DISA’s vice director in 2013, was appointed director in 2015 for a three-year tour. A DISA spokesperson told FCW that Lynn is expected to fulfill his appointment term but that his exact departure date in 2018 is unknown.

Lynn was recognized in the 2017 Fed100 for helping expand the Defense Department's cloud services while cutting costs and leading IT support to establish a background check system for the new National Background Investigations Bureau housed at the Office of Personnel Management.

Norton succeeded Air Force Maj. Gen. Sarah Zabel as DISA’s vice director in August after serving as the Navy's director of the Warfare Integration Directorate under the deputy chief of naval operations for information dominance, and director of Command, Control, Communications and Cyber for U.S. Pacific Command. Norton earned Fed100 honors in 2015 for her work operationalizing cyber for the Navy.