Peter Highnam
Dr. Peter Highnam is a senior U.S. defense science and technology official who currently serves as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Critical Technologies within the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (USD R&E). He holds a Ph.D. in computer science from Carnegie Mellon University and worked in industry at Schlumberger before entering government service as a DARPA program manager. He went on to serve as the second Director of the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA, 2012–2015), later as Director of Research at the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), and then returned to DARPA as Deputy Director, serving in that capacity — including periods as acting director — from approximately 2018 to 2022.
| Role | Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Critical Technologies (OUSD R&E); former Deputy/Acting Director of DARPA; former Director of IARPA |
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Role in UAP Programs
UAP Gerb's Special Access Required Vol.2 names Highnam as a senior figure within the reporting chain connecting DARPA's Security and Intelligence Directorate (SID) to the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering — the office the video identifies, per DoD Instruction 5205.11, as responsible for cultivating cutting-edge technology development programs requiring Special Access Program protection. Because DARPA SID reports administratively up through USD(R&E), and because Highnam's career has spanned DARPA's deputy directorship, IARPA's directorship, and NGA's research directorate, the presenter alleges Highnam has been "integral to coordinating legacy efforts between DARPA and USD R&E" for the past several years, characterizing his current "critical technologies" portfolio as a marker the video argues often correlates with proximity to classified legacy program activity. The video attributes to Highnam an early DARPA program-manager focus on electronic warfare and airborne communications, though this specific detail is sourced to the video's own narration rather than independently corroborated.