Deborah Frincke

Deborah Frincke

Deborah is the National Security Programs Associate Labs Director for Sandia National Laboratories. She manages Strategic Partnership projects for the U.S. Department of Defense and other federal departments and agencies, Strategic Intelligence Partnership Projects for the U.S. Intelligence Community, and programs for the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Intelligence and Counterintelligence.

Previously, Deborah was the Associate Laboratory Director for National Security Sciences at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), where she guided the research and development of science-based solutions to complex threats that put public safety, national defense, energy infrastructure, and the economy at risk. She oversaw the work of multi-disciplinary research teams who apply signature capabilities in nuclear and uranium science, high-performance computing, geographical information science, cyber and data science, applied materials, and advanced manufacturing to counter national security challenges.

Deborah joined ORNL from the National Security Agency (NSA), where she served in three roles between 2011 and 2020: Deputy and then Director of Research and Director of Education and Training.
Prior to joining NSA, she worked in academia, reaching the rank of full professor at University of Idaho; served as Chief Scientist for Cybersecurity at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and launched their cybersecurity research program; and cofounded a successful cybersecurity startup company, TriGeo Network Systems.