Vice Adm. Jan Tighe was born in Bowling Green, Kentucky, and raised in Plantation, Florida. Tighe is a 1984 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and was commissioned as a cryptologist. She studied Russian at the Defense Language Institute and graduated from the Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California, in 2001 with a doctorate in electrical engineering and a Master Of Science in Applied Mathematics.
Tighes’s previous tours include duty with Naval Security Group Activities in Florida, Virginia and Japan, Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron (VQ) 1, and the Naval Information Warfare Activity. She also had staff assignments on the Headquarters of the Pacific Fleet, Naval Security Group and Naval Network Warfare Command; and served as executive assistant to commander, U.S. Cyber Command. Tighe commanded more than 2,800 multi-service and multi-agency personnel at the National Security Agency/Central Security Service Hawaii in Kunia.