The Archivist of the United States Dr. Colleen Shogan, with the approval of the President, has appointed Michael D. Thomas as the Director of the Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO), effective November 3, 2024.
Mr. Thomas most recently served as the Director for Access Management for White House National Security Council (NSC). Prior to joining the NSC in July 2023, he held a series of leadership roles at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), including Chief of Strategic Communications within the Office of Public Affairs and Deputy Chief Transparency Officer within the Office of Civil Liberties, Privacy, and Transparency.
On behalf of the ODNI, Mr. Thomas oversaw digital strategy and transparency efforts, coordinating these activities for more than a decade across the Intelligence Community. This included the creation of “Bin Laden’s Bookshelf,” which made publicly available for the first time material recovered during the Osama bin Laden raid, and developing the “Evolution of Espionage in America” online museum in collaboration with the National Counterintelligence and Security Center. Mr. Thomas also worked closely with NARA and the NSC to shepherd the release of records for the Argentina Declassification Project, which was widely hailed as the first instance of “declassification diplomacy.”
During his ODNI tenure, Mr. Thomas established and led the IC’s Community of Practice for Social Media, providing guidance and support for emerging social media initiatives. From 2017 to 2023, Mr. Thomas chaired the Intelligence Transparency Council, an interagency body focused on streamlining the release of information in the public interest. Mr. Thomas was also responsible for shepherding the first-ever Intelligence Community commitments in a U.S. National Action Plan for Open Government and the creation of Intelligence.gov as the new digital front door for the IC focused on greater transparency.
Mr. Thomas began his career at NARA in 1998 as an archives technician before departing for the private sector, where he worked as an investigative researcher on behalf of private clients as well as in the public interest. He then worked with a series of start-ups, including two ranked among Inc. Magazine’s annual list of the 500 fastest growing companies in America. Mr. Thomas is a graduate of the George Washington University.
ISOO looks forward to Michael’s leadership and contributions in overseeing our government’s security classification system and other vital information management programs!