Sometimes I am just clueless about what's happening - Mark D. Neighbors has moved from the OPNAV Staff

Senior Advisor

 to the 

Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Information Dominance

 has left the OPNAV Staff.

Mr. Mark Neighbors enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1974 and trained in Chinese Mandarin at Defense Language Institute, Monterey, California. After serving in various assignments as an enlisted voice analyst in Korea, Maryland and Hawaii, he was commissioned an Ensign in 1983. He subsequently performed duties in operational and staff assignments ashore and afloat in California, Japan, Maryland and Washington, DC. 

He was the Commander, Task Force 70/Striking Force SEVENTH Fleet cryptologist in the 1990s and was a powerhouse on the Yokosuka waterfront for a number of years, having served as the Officer in Charge, U.S. Naval Security Group Detachment Yokosuka, Japan.

To our great dismay, Mark retired as Commander in 2001. He entered the U.S. Civil Service and served in several staff intelligence assignments at the U.S. Navy Headquarters (OPNAV).

He was selected as a Defense Intelligence Senior Level (DISL) in 2007 during a three year assignment as the Navy’s Deputy Senior Language Authority.

In September 2008 he reported to the staff of the Director, Naval Intelligence where he facilitated the OPNAV Headquarters reorganization in 2009 and became Chief of Staff to the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Information Dominance. In January 2010 he executed a Joint Duty Assignment with the Defense Intelligence Agency where he developed the Civilian Foreign Area Specialist (CIVFAS) Program for the Defense Intelligence Enterprise. He returned to OPNAV in February 2011 and serves as the Senior Advisor to the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Information Dominance (N2/N6).

Mr. Neighbors holds a bachelor’s of general studies in political science from Chaminade University, Honolulu, Hawaii and a master’s of science in national resource strategy from National Defense University in Washington, DC. He is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s SEMINAR XXI Program, and a recipient of the Department of the Navy Superior Civilian Service Award. His highest military decoration was the Legion of Merit.