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DoD CIO John Sherman To Depart at End of June

He will take on government school dean role at Texas A&M.

Department of Defense Chief Information Officer John B. Sherman will step down from his position at the end of June 2024. He has served as the Defense Department’s top IT official since 2021. He was a key speaker at AFCEA International's TechNet Cyber in 2023. Photo by Mike Carptenter

Department of Defense Chief Information Officer John B. Sherman will step down from his position at the end of June, according to a department statement. He has served as the Defense Department’s top IT official since 2021.

Sherman has served in national security for 30 years, holding senior positions in the CIA, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA). Effective August 1, Sherman will serve as dean at the Bush School of Government at Texas A&M University, his alma mater, according to a university statement. He graduated from the school with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history. While at Texas A&M, he was a Ross Volunteer and served as commander of the Corps of Cadets. He also earned a Master of Public Administration degree from the University of Houston.

“I am grateful for Mr. Sherman's loyal service to the Department and to our nation,” Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III said in a statement. “Our national security is stronger today because of his efforts. I wish him the best of luck in his next chapter.”

Last year, Sherman spearheaded a DoD effort to shore up the agency’s cyber personnel deficit with a renowned workforce strategy, which sought to employ intellectually and geographically diverse personnel and recruiting efforts beyond the traditional areas.

“When we tap into all the talent we can get after in this great nation, nobody would be able to stop us doing what we need to do, having a workforce that looks like America, having a workforce system that recognizes the changing dynamics of our 21st-century environment … and we've got to get after this because I'll tell you when we do this right, nothing they're going to do in Beijing, or Moscow, or Tehran, or Pyongyang, can stand up to what we're going to bring to this fight,” Sherman said during TechNet Cyber 2023.

The department’s Cyber Workforce Strategy, which extends to 2027, outlines four human capital pillars—identifying workforce requirements, recruiting talent, developing talent to meet mission requirements, and retaining talent to resolve the department’s workforce retention challenge.

Stay tuned for updates on this developing story.