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Dana Rucinski
Ms. Dana Rucinski is a 1993 graduate of the United States Military Academy (USMA), having received a Bachelor of Science degree in International Relations, along with her commission as a Military Intelligence Officer in the United States Army. She currently serves as the Chief of Staff for the National Reconnaissance Office.
As a Lieutenant and Captain, she served in Germany with the 165th Military Intelligence Battalion, deploying to Bosnia in 1995 with the Implementation Force (IFOR). She also served as a Battalion S2 with the 32d Signal Battalion in Darmstadt. Following the Military Intelligence Officer Advanced Course, she served in Korea with the 2d Infantry Division as a Brigade S2, then proceeded to Fort Meade, MD, with the 902d Military Intelligence Brigade, where she commanded B Company, 310th Military Intelligence Battalion. Following command, she was assigned to the Pentagon in September 2001, working on the Army Watch and on the Army Staff in the G2 Initiatives Group.
In 2004, COL Rucinski deployed to Afghanistan, serving in the J2X with Combined Forces Command on Camp Eggers. Following deployment to Afghanistan, and with a family increase of four orphaned Afghan kittens, COL Rucinski attended resident Command and General Staff College before serving her first assignment with the 743d Military Intelligence Battalion as the Executive Officer, in Colorado in 2006. She returned to Colorado after a tour at Human Resources Command as an assignments officer to take command of the 743d Military Intelligence Battalion in 2010. Following command, she deployed again to Kabul, Afghanistan, to serve with the International Joint Command (IJC) J2 staff.
In June 2014, COL Rucinski completed the Army War College Cyber Fellowship, resident at the National Security Agency. She was assigned as the CYBERCOM Liaison Officer to USNORTHCOM in August 2014 to February 2017. In 2019, COL Rucinski had the privilege of commanding the National Ground Intelligence Center in Charlottesville, Virginia, overseeing the Nation’s premiere ground intelligence analysts.
Upon completion of command in 2019, COL Rucinski arrived at the National Reconnaissance Office where she helped establish NRO’s Office of Intelligence. After retiring from the military in 2022, she rejoined NRO as cadre and assumed the role of Director, NRO Office of Intelligence.
Ms. Rucinski’s professional education includes the Military Intelligence Officer Basic Course, Military Intelligence Officer Advanced Course, Command and General Staff College, and Army War College Fellowship.
Her awards include the Bronze Star Medal, the Defense Superior Service Medal, the Legion of Merit, the Meritorious Service Medal, the Army Commendation Medal, the Army Achievement Medal, and the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, not that any of that impresses her two teenagers who reside with her in Northern Virginia.
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