Award Recipients

Deborah Frincke

2017 Founders Award

Deborah Frincke, Ph.D. Currently as the NSA/CSS Director of Research, Dr. Deborah Frincke leads the NSA/CSS Research Directorate, arguably the largest “in-house” research organization in the U.S. Intelligence Community, to create breakthroughs in mathematics, science, and engineering that support and enable the NSA/CSS. Under her guidance, the Research Directorate recruits personnel and maintains faculties that are world-class in fields as diverse as mathematics, computer science, cyber security/trustworthy computing, engineering, physics, neuroscience, cognitive psychology and linguistics. The highly technical workforce performs cutting-edge research that often results in science that is ahead of anything being imagined elsewhere – science that gives our nation the information advantage it needs to find creative solutions to its most vexing problems. As a world science and technology leader, the Research Directorate engages with leading industries, universities, and national laboratories to both advance core competencies and to leverage work in overlapping disciplines. Through NSA’s Technology Transfer Program, the Directorate licenses and shares internally developed technologies with industry, academia, and other government agencies.

Formerly, the NSA/CSS Associate Director for Education and Training, Dr. Deborah Frincke leads the National Cryptologic School (NCS) as NCS Commandant and manages a worldwide multiservice military and civilian, corporate-level learning organization to deliver education, training and career development to members of the NSA/CSS workforce. She is dual-hatted as the NSA/CSS Training Director, governing the Cryptologic Training Council and providing executive steering of four joint service schools and 20 satellite campuses across a global enterprise.