Vice Admiral Harry B. Harris, Jr., is the deputy chief of Naval Operations for Communication Networks (OPNAV N6) and the Deputy Department of the Navy Chief Information Officer (Navy). He was born in Yokosuka, Japan, and reared in Tennessee and Florida.

Following graduation from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1978 and designation as a Naval flight officer, he was assigned to VP-44, homeported in Brunswick, Maine. His subsequent operational tours include assignment as a tactical action officer onboard USS Saratoga, homeported in Mayport, Fla., when CV-60 participated in strike operations against Libya; operations officer in VP-4 during Operations Desert Shield/Desert Storm; and three tours with Patrol and Reconnaissance Wing 1/CTF57/CTF 72, homeported in Kami Seya, Japan. In 2002, he reported to Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Central Command/Commander U.S. 5th Fleet, serving as ACOS for Operations, Plans, and Pol-Mil Affairs (N3/N5) when 5th Fleet planned and executed the Naval component’s portion of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

His command assignments include VP-46 at Whidbey Island, Wash. and Patrol and Reconnaissance Wing 1/CTF57/CTF 72 at Kami Seya, Japan. Task Force 57 was heavily involved at the inception of Operation Enduring Freedom, flying nearly 1,000 combat sorties over Afghanistan. From March 2006 to May 2007, he commanded Joint Task Force-Guantanamo.

Harris’ shore and education assignments include aide and flag lieutenant to the Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Japan, in Yokosuka, Japan; duty on the staff of the Chief of Naval Operations as a strategist in the Strategy and Concepts Branch; and special assistant to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. From August 2004 to February 2006, he was assigned to the staff of the Chief of Naval Operations as Director, Information, Plans and Security Division (OPNAV N3IPS), responsible for Navy current operations and anti-terrorism/force protection policy. From June 2007 to April 2008, he served as director of operations (J3) for U.S. Southern Command.

Selected for the Navy’s Harvard/Tufts Program, he attended the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, graduating in 1992 with a Master in Public Administration degree. Selected as an Arthur S. Moreau Scholar, he studied international relations at Oxford and Georgetown Universities, earning a Master of Arts in National Security Studies from the latter in 1994. While at Georgetown, he was a Fellow in the School of Foreign Service. He is also an MIT Seminar XXI Fellow.

Harris has logged 4,400 flight hours, including over 400 combat hours, in U.S. and foreign maritime patrol and reconnaissance aircraft.

In June 2008, he assumed duties as the deputy chief of Naval Operations for Communication Networks (OPNAV N6) and the Deputy Department of the Navy Chief Information Officer (Navy).

Harris’ personal decorations include the Defense Superior Service Medal (3 awards), the Legion of Merit (3 awards), the Bronze Star (2 awards), the Meritorious Service Medal (4 awards), the Air Medal, the Joint Service Commendation Medal, the Navy Commendation Medal (5 awards), Navy Achievement Medal, and various campaign and unit decorations. He is a recipient of the Navy League’s Stephen Decatur Award for Operational Competence.