National Museum of the U.S. Navy

In collaboration with the Naval History and Heritage Command (NHHC) and the Director’s Action Group (DAG), the museum will host a conversation between NHHC Director, Samuel J. Cox, Rear Admiral, USN (Retired), and Vice Admiral Jeffrey Trussler (Cherokee Nation), currently the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Information Warfare and Director of Naval Intelligence.  Trussler will speak on Native American cultural values and how these values have shaped and influenced his life choices leading to a career in military service as the highest ranking active duty naval officer of Native American descent.                                

This conversation will enlighten and engage audiences to ponder the meanings of inclusivity and national origin in America. 

Jeffrey Eugene Trussler has served in his current capacity as Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Information Warfare and Director of Naval Intelligence since June 5, 2020. As the DCNO for Information Warfare, Trussler is the principal advisor to the Chief of Naval Operations regarding information, command and control, networks, cybersecurity, intelligence, electronic warfare, battlespace awareness and precision navigation. He previously served as the Director of Future Plans of the United States Navy.  Trussler is a member of the Cherokee Nation and was raised in Oklahoma. He graduated from Miami High School in 1981.  He earned a BS degree in mechanical engineering from Oklahoma State University and later received his Masters in managerial economics from the University of Oklahoma in 1992.

Sam Cox serves as the Director of the Naval History and Heritage Command and Curator of the Navy, Washington, DC. During his 37-year active duty naval career, Cox served as an intelligence officer, retiring in November 2013, as the senior naval intelligence community leader, and from both command of the Office of Naval Intelligence and as director of the National Maritime Intelligence-Integration Office.