A native of Middletown, New York, Dr. Tony J. Tether has had a long career working with defense technology, both in the private and public sectors.

 

Orange County Community College awarded him an associate’s degree. He then received a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1964, after transferring from Stanford University when he ran out of money. Upon graduating, Tether went back to Stanford to get both a master’s degree and a doctorate in electrical engineering in 1965 and 1969, respectively. In the same year he got his doctorate, he landed a job at Systems Control Inc., where he worked as executive vice president for nine years.

 

Tether entered government service in 1978, serving as director of the National Intelligence Office until 1982. He also had a previous stint at DARPA - from 1982 to 1986 - as director of the agency’s Strategic Technology Office, where he supervised projects that aimed to develop new surveillance capabilities, satellite technology, radio transmitters and stealth aircraft - among other innovations.

 

In 1986, Tether became vice president of technology and advanced development for Ford Aerospace Corp. and a vice president for Ford Motor Corp. At Ford, Tether led a committee that sought to integrate Department of Defense innovations into consumer cars. Tether remained at Ford until 1992, when he began a two-year period as vice president for Science Applications International Corporation’s Advanced Technology Sector, and then as vice president and general manager for range systems at the same company. From 1994 to 1996, he served as chief executive officer for defense contractor Dynamics Technology Inc. Tether followed that by founding The Sequoia Group, a company with many roles in the defense industry, in 1996, serving as chief executive officer and president until 2001.

 

President George W. Bush appointed Tether to the DARPA directorship on June 18, 2001. “It’s a neat job to have because you see many, many things, and you have the brightest of the brightest constantly briefing you,” Tether told the Rensselaer Alumni Magazine in 2002. “We have projects in almost anything you can imagine.”

 

Tether has served on the Army and Defense Science Boards and the Office of National Drug Control Policy Research and Development Committee, and is a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.

 

Statement by Tony Tether to the U.S. House Subcommittee on Terrorism, Unconventional Threats and Capabilities (PDF)

The Best Defense (by Alan Moorse, Renseelaer Polytechnic Institute)

Darpa Chief Speaks (by Noah Shachtman, Wired)

DARPA Chief Says: Failure Key to Its Far-Side Strategy (by Tom Abate, San FranciscoChronicle)

Gadgetoff 2007 – Tony Tether (YouTube)

DARPA Director Tony Tether Goes on the Offensive in Defending His Record and His Agency (by Richard McCormack, Manufacturing & Technology News)