Marcel Lettre serves as principal deputy defense undersecretary for intelligence and functions as program executive for the country’s military intelligence program.
He represents the Defense Department on intelligence and sensitive operations to the CIA, National Security Council, and other elements of the intelligence community; and also works as ODNI’s director of defense intelligence.
Prior to his current role, Lettre was the deputy chief of staff at the Office of the Secretary of Defense between 2011 and 2013.
For the two years prior, he served as principal deputy assistant defense secretary and was responsible for work to promote the policies, strategies and budget of DoD to Congress.
From 2005 to 2009, Lettre served as senior defense and intelligence adviser and then as senior national security adviser to the Senate majority leader.
In that role, he handled all “Gang of 8†intelligence matters for the majority leader; shaped national security legislation and intelligence policy initiatives; and helped to achieve passage of the annual defense authorization and appropriations bills and war supplementals.
Previously, he served three years on the staff of the House Intelligence Committee and focused on intelligence after-action reviews on the 9/11 terrorist attacks and weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
He also advised on the 2004 Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act, which created the national intelligence director position.
Lettre holds a master’s degree from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and a bachelor’s degree from the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee.