The Potomac Institute for Policy Studies is pleased to announce that The Honorable Donald M. Kerr, PhD, has joined the Institute as a Senior Fellow and Member of the Board of Regents.  Dr. Kerr is a distinguished scientist who has held several prominent positions in government service and private industry. He has served as Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence, Director of the National Reconnaissance Office, Deputy Director for Science and Technology at the Central Intelligence Agency, and Assistant Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in charge of the Laboratory Division.   He has been honored with the National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal and the CIA Distinguished Intelligence Medal. Dr. Kerr is a Research Professor in George Mason University’s Volgenau School of Engineering, and serves as a member of the Board of Trustees for the MITRE Corporation.  He is also a member of the Defense Science Board.

Regarding Dr. Kerr's appointment as a Senior Fellow and Member of the Potomac Institute's Board of Regents, Institute Chairman and CEO Michael Swetnam said, "Don Kerr is one of this country's most distinguished leaders.  It is a profound honor to have him join us."

Dr. Kerr  was confirmed by the Senate on October 4, 2007, as Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence, and served in that position until January 20, 2009.  From July 21, 2005, Dr. Kerr served as the fifteenth Director of the National Reconnaissance Office.  He previously served as Deputy Director for Science and Technology at the Central Intelligence Agency, a position he assumed in August of 2001. From 1997 until 2001, Dr. Kerr was an Assistant Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in charge of the Laboratory Division.  Dr. Kerr’s prior government service was with the Department of Energy from 1976 through 1979, first in Las Vegas as Deputy Manager of Nevada Operations, and subsequently in Washington, DC, as the Deputy Assistant Secretary and Acting Assistant Secretary for Defense Programs and later for Energy Technology.

He has also held several key executive positions in private industry.  From 1993 through 1996, he was Corporate Executive Vice President and Director at Science Applications International Corporation. Dr. Kerr was President and Director of EG&G, Inc., from 1989 through 1992.  He served as a Director of Resources for the Future from 1990 through 1999 and on the Executive Committee of the National Association of Manufacturers Board from 1987 through 1992.  He currently acts as an advisor for several aerospace and defense firms.

Dr. Kerr was the fourth Director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory from 1979 to 1985. He was also employed at Los Alamos from 1966 until 1976, conducting and leading research in high altitude weapons effects, nuclear test detection and analysis, weapons diagnostics, ionospheric physics, and alternative energy programs.

Dr. Kerr received his Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering in 1963 and went on to earn an MS (1964) in microwave electronics and a PhD(1966) in plasma physics and microwave electronics, all from Cornell University. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.