Dana Dyson

Dana Dyson is a seasoned national security professional, having served as a valued advisor to successive Directors and Deputy Directors of the Central Intelligence Agency, providing strategic and tactical legal advice and policy counsel on national security matters of critical importance to our nation's ability to defend against state and transnational adversaries.

Dana served with the Central Intelligence Agency's (CIA) Office of General Counsel (OGC) from December 1999 to September 2023. Immediately prior to her retirement from government service, she was the Deputy General Counsel of CIA for Operations. In that capacity, she provided legal advice and counsel to the Director and Deputy Director of CIA and supervised attorneys assigned to the CIA's Directorate of Operations, Directorate of Science and Technology, Directorate of Analysis, and Directorate of Digital Innovation/Center for Cyber Intelligence, as well as attorneys assigned to CIA's eleven topical and geographic Mission Centers. She was responsible for the legal advice and services provided by those counsel in support of CIA operational activities and analyses. From January 2021 to March 2022, Dana served as the Acting Senior Deputy General Counsel and the Acting Deputy General Counsel for Operations, providing advice and counsel to Agency leadership and supervising the same operational law cadre. Prior to these assignments, from April 2014 to January 2021, she served as the Chief of OGC's Operations Division and as the Legal Advisor to the Deputy Director of CIA for Operations (DDO).

Before joining the CIA, Dana served on active duty as a judge advocate in the US Navy from 1990-1999, serving in various positions including as Deputy Legal Advisor to the Vice Chief of Naval Operations, Staff Judge Advocate, USS SIMON LAKE (AS-33), Staff Judge Advocate, Submarine Squadron Twenty-two, and Staff Judge Advocate to the Commandant, US Naval Academy. She subsequently affiliated with the Navy Reserve. Her reserve assignments included service as Deputy Legal Advisor to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and as Commanding Officer of the Navy JAG reserve unit supporting the Chief of Naval Personnel and Commander, Navy Personnel Command. Dana retired from the Navy in 2012 as a Captain in the Navy JAG Corps Reserve.

Dana also is an experienced national security law educator, serving as an adjunct professor and student advisor at the Georgetown University Law Center and the Washington College of Law at American University.