On November 6, 2013, President Barack Obama nominated Madelyn R. Creedon to be principal deputy administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), a semi-autonomous agency within the U.S. Department of Energy responsible for overseeing the nation’s nuclear weapons complex. Her confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee, for whom she served for many years, was held on January 16, 2014.
The daughter of Marilyn and Richard Creedon, she was born November 1, 1951, in Indianapolis, Creedon graduated from the University of Evansville in 1973 with a degree in political science and from St. Louis University Law School in 1976. She worked as a trial attorney for four years, and then served for ten years in the Department of Energy general counsel’s office as acting assistant general counsel for special litigation.
Most of Creedon’s government service has been related to defense and nuclear weapons. In 1990, she joined the staff of the Senate Armed Services Committee as counsel, serving in that position for four years. She became general counsel for the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission in 1994. Creedon served that panel, which made recommendations to President Bill Clinton for closing or realigning military bases, until October 1995.
At that time, Creedon moved to the Executive Branch, becoming associate deputy secretary of energy for National Security Programs. She held that post until 1997, when she returned to the Senate Armed Services Committee. Creedon then moved back to the Department of Energy, being named deputy administrator for Defense Programs at the National Nuclear Security Administration.
In 2001, after George W. Bush was elected president, Creedon returned to the Senate Armed Services Committee, where she served as Democratic counsel and, beginning in 2007, as lead majority staff for the Subcommittee on Strategic Forces.
In 2011, she was appointed assistant secretary of defense for Global Strategic Affairs (GSA). In that post, Creedon has overseen such policy issues as cybersecurity for the Department of Defense (DOD), nuclear weapons, missile defense and countering weapons of mass destruction.
As part of her position as assistant secretary of defense, she has been co-leader of a Pentagon team reviewing recent problems with Air Force nuclear missile crews.
Creedon comes by her connection to defense programs naturally. Her father served in the Army Reserve for more than 35 years. Creedon and her husband, Jim Bracco, have two adult children, Meredith and John.
-Steve Straehley
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