John Hood

(Ret) Director Communications System Directorate

National Reconnaissance Office (NRO)

John Hood is a results-driven leader and former senior executive with over 36 years of acquisition and operations experience in the Intelligence and Defense communities, including 28 years of active duty service in the Navy and eight years as a member of the Senior Executive Service at the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). As an Independent Consultant, John is now focused on working with companies to apply advanced technology, best practices, and innovative acquisition approaches to solve the Intelligence Community’s hardest challenges.

Prior to his retirement from Federal service, John served as the Director of the Communications Systems Directorate at the NRO and as NRO Chief Information Officer. While in these roles, John directed a large portfolio of space communications, information technology (IT), and cybersecurity programs that provided increased resiliency, availability, and capacity for the NRO and its mission partners. He also directed and implemented the most extensive IT and cybersecurity modernization effort in the history of the NRO, dramatically improving enterprise performance while significantly reducing cybersecurity vulnerabilities.

John began his career as a Naval Aviator operating carrier-based aircraft performing intelligence,
surveillance, reconnaissance, and electronic warfare missions for nearly a decade in peace, crisis,
and conflict. John then transitioned to the Navy’s acquisition community. For the next 18 years he served in a series of assignments with progressively increasing responsibility for the acquisition of intelligence and defense systems, primarily at the NRO. He concluded his Naval career as the Program Director for the NRO’s space relay communications program, where he was responsible for end-to-end lifecycle cost, schedule, technical performance, and risk management for a multi-billion dollar portfolio consisting of over a dozen programs, including three Major System Acquisitions, delivering space and terrestrial communications capabilities to defense and intelligence users worldwide.

John is a Distinguished Graduate of the Industrial College of the Armed Forces where he earned an M.S. in National Resource Strategy. He also holds an M.S. in Systems Technology (Space Systems Operations) from the Naval Postgraduate School and a B.A. from the University of Florida. John is a certified PMP and PgMP, and the recipient of a Presidential Rank Award in 2024, as well as the NRO’s Jimmie D. Hill leadership award, three NRO awards for distinguished performance, and two IC Major System Acquisition Awards.

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