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NEWS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                     
ODNI News Release No. 11-12
Thursday, August 30, 2012

DNI CLAPPER NAMES NEW IARPA DIRECTOR

Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper announced today that he has selected Dr. Peter Highnam to be the second director of the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity.

He has been serving as the acting director of IARPA since the departure of IARPA’s first director, Dr. Lisa Porter, in May 2012.  

“Peter will maintain the high bar for technical excellence and relevance to mission that Lisa established, and will continue to work closely with partners throughout the national security community, said Clapper.

Highnam joined the ODNI in February 2009 as the director for IARPA’s Incisive Analysis Office. Prior to IARPA, he was a senior advisor in the National Institutes of Health and then in the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority. From 1999 to 2003, Highnam was a DARPA program manager with programs in electronic warfare and airborne communications. Before joining DARPA, he worked for more than a decade in applied research in industry.

Highnam holds a Department of Health and Human Services Secretary’s Distinguished Service Award and a Department of Defense Civilian Exceptional Service Award. He is a co-inventor on three patents in commercial seismic exploration and holds a doctorate in computer science from Carnegie Mellon University.

IARPA, a center within the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, invests in high-risk, high-payoff research programs that have the potential to provide the United States with an overwhelming intelligence advantage over future adversaries.

Additional information on IARPA and their research may be found on their web site: http://www.iarpa.gov/.