Flag Officer Announcement 

Release from the U.S. Department of Defense 

***** 

SEPT. 28, 2023 

Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III announced today that the president has made the following nomination: 

Navy Rear Adm. (lower half) Heidi K. Berg for appointment to the grade of rear admiral. Berg is currently serving as assistant deputy chief of naval operations for Operations, Plans, and Strategy, N3/N5B, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Washington, D.C. 

Below is the official biography for Berg: 

Rear Adm. Berg is a native of LaCrosse, Wisconsin. She is a graduate of the U. S. Naval Academy. She studied Russian at the Defense Language Institute, and Arabic at the Kalimat Institute in Cairo, Egypt. Berg holds a Master’s degree in Modern Middle Eastern Studies and Arabic from Oxford University, UK. 

Operational tours include Navy Security Group Activity in Rota, Spain, where Berg flew over 1000 hours as a communications intercept evaluator onboard EP-3E aircraft in support of Operations Provide Promise/Sharp Guard. She deployed onboard the USS Kidd (DDG 993), Cruiser Destroyer Group 12 onboard the USS Saratoga (CV 60), and the USS Key West (SSN 722).  She served on the Sixth Fleet aboard the USS LaSalle (AGF 3) in Gaeta, Italy, where she participated in initial talks with the post-Soviet Russian Navy.  She supported global crisis response at Naval Security Group Menwith Hill in Harrogate, UK. In 2012, Berg deployed to Afghanistan as director of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) Red Team at ISAF HQ in Kabul. As director, she led alternative analysis and provided strategic assessments to the ISAF Commander. 

She commanded the Navy Information Operations Command in Bahrain, where she was responsible for providing airborne and surface Signal Intelligence support to Iraqi Freedom, Enduring Freedom, and Persian Gulf maritime operations. She also commanded the Navy Element of the Defense Intelligence Agency, and the Joint Military Intelligence Training Center. 

Staff assignments include serving as the Airborne SIGINT Requirements Officer (N2N6) on the Chief of Naval Operations (OPNAV) Staff; Information Operations Strategy and Policy (N3IO) at OPNAV; deputy for Plans and Policy at Fleet Cyber Command/U.S. TENTH Fleet; deputy National Intelligence Officer for Military Issues at the National Intelligence Council; Military Advisor to the deputy director of National Intelligence, where she supported daily intelligence briefings to the President and National Security Council; Information Warfare and Foreign Area Officer Director (PERS-47) at Navy Personnel Command, Strategic Advisor (OOZ) to the Chief of Naval Operations; and Acting Director, Navy Digital Warfare Office. 

As a flag officer, Berg served as the director of Intelligence (J-2) at U.S. Africa Command, and as the director of Strategy, Plans and Policy (J-5) at U.S. Cyber Command.