Department of Defense Nomination of Gerald P. Dinneen To Be an Assistant Secretary

The President today announced that he will nominate Gerald P. Dinneen to be Assistant Secretary of Defense. Dinneen is director of MIT Lincoln Laboratory in Lexington, Mass.

Dinneen was born in Elmhurst, N.Y., on October 23, 1924. He received a B.S. degree in mathematics from Queens College in 1947 and an M.S. and Ph.D. (1952) from the University of Wisconsin. From 1943 to 1946, he served in the Army Air Corps.

From 1951 to 1953, Dinneen was senior development engineer at Goodyear Aircraft Corp., in Akron, Ohio. In 1953 he joined the staff of MIT Lincoln Laboratory as a staff member in the data transmission group.

In 1958 Dinneen became section leader and then assistant leader of the data processing group at Lincoln Laboratory. In January 1960 he became leader of that group. In February 1960, he became associate head of the information processing division and a member of the Lincoln Laboratory Steering Committee.

Dinneen became associate head of the newly formed communications division 'at Lincoln Laboratory in 1963 and head of that division in 1964. In 1966 he became associate director of Lincoln Laboratory, and in 1970 he became director.

In 1971 Dinneen became a professor of electrical engineering at MIT. He was vice chairman of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the Defense Intelligence Agency from 1966 to 1973, and vice chairman of the Committee on Undersea Warfare of the Naval Academy of Sciences from 1968 to 1973.

In 1976 Dinneen was appointed a member of the Technical Advisory Committee of the FAA. He received the Exceptional Civilian Service Award of the U.S. Air Force in 1966, and a Navy Certificate of Commendation in 1972 for his service on the Committee on Undersea Warfare.

Dinneen is married to the former Mary Purington. They have two daughters and a son and reside in Concord, Mass.