Acting Deputy Commander
Office of Naval Intelligence
Mr. Scott Chesbrough assumed the role of acting deputy commander of the Office of Naval Intelligence in August 2024. Prior to this assignment, he served as the ONI director of strategy, policy, and integration (N5) after retiring from active duty as a U.S. Navy captain (O-6) in July 2021.
While on active duty, Chesbrough’s operational tours included serving as the communications officer and navigator aboard the destroyer USS John Young (DD 973). He served as the assistant N2 for Carrier Strike Group 2 (CSG-2) aboard the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75). Chesbrough served as the N2 for Expeditionary Strike Group 3 (ESG-3) and completed an individual augmentee deployment to ESG-5 in Bahrain.
Ashore, Chesbrough served as a watch officer, command briefer, and submarine analyst at the Joint Intelligence Center Pacific and as an instructor at Tactical Training Group Pacific. He was a collection manager to the Defense Intelligence Agency Defense Intelligence Operations Coordination Center, during which time he also supported the collection staff of the Director of National Intelligence supporting senior policy makers. He was assigned to the staff of the chief of naval operations where he conducted analysis and assessments in the Naval Warfare Integration Office (N00X), served as an action officer in the Warfare Integration Office (N9I), and was the executive assistant to the assistant deputy director of naval intelligence and the director of intelligence operations. Chesbrough served as head of the ONI Nimitz Operational Intelligence Center Naval Warfare Department and commanded the ONI Kennedy Irregular Warfare Center before serving as the assistant deputy director for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance operations (J-32), the Joint Chiefs of Staff. His last assignment before his retirement was ONI chief of staff.
Chesbrough graduated with merit from the United States Naval Academy in 1992 with a Bachelor of Science in political science. He holds a Master of Arts in national security and strategic studies from the Naval War College, completed the Armed Forces Staff College in 2006, and was a Joint Qualified Officer.