Joanne O'Rourke Isham is an espionage and security expert from the United States. She is a former member of theCentral Intelligence Agency (CIA) and currently involved ingeospatial intelligence.
Isham graduated from theUniversity of Notre Dame in the mid 1970s.[1] She started working in theCentral Intelligence Agency (CIA) at the age of 20 doingbackground checks.[1] Isham was Director of Congressional Affairs at the CIA during theAldrich Ames spy case,[2] Associate Deputy Director for the CIA's Directorate for Science and Technology,[3] and Deputy Director of National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency from November 2003 to April 2006. In addition, she was the Deputy Director of National Imagery and Mapping Agency from September 2001 to October 2003.[4]
Isham retired from the CIA in 2006 as a member of the Senior Intelligence Service, and a career officer at the Central Intelligence Agency, which she had joined in 1977.[5]
In August 2017, she joined defense technology firm Polaris Alpha's advisory board.[6][7]
Isham was awarded CIA'sDistinguished Intelligence Medal by DirectorJohn Deutch on March 18, 1995; in recognition for her outstanding leadership and management of the Office of Congressional Affairs.[2]
She was awarded theNational Intelligence Medal of Achievement. She also received the Director’s Award in recognition of extraordinary service.[4]
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain.