Barbara A. McNamara was the NSA's Deputy Director from October 1997 until June 2000, prior to becoming NSA's Senior U.S. Liaison Officer in London, England (a post traditionally awarded to NSA Deputy Directors before they retire.) After joining the agency in 1963 as a Chinese

Chinese language

The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...

 linguist, she rose through a number of analytic, operational, and managerial positions before leaving the Operational Directorate in1983. McNamara became the first woman to be named Deputy Director of Operations, in 1994. She was succeeded by William B. Black, Jr.

William B. Black, Jr.

William B. Black, Jr. is the most recent former Deputy Director of the National Security Agency.-Early NSA career :Black joined the National Security Agency in 1959 as an operational linguist/analyst after three years in the Army. While employed at NSA, Mr...

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In June 2000, she received the US Intelligence Community’s highest award, the National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal

National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal

The National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal is the highest decoration awarded for service to the United States Intelligence Community...

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Currently, she is a board member of Signalscape and Intec Billing