John Marlan Poinexter (born August 12, 1936 in Odon, Indiana) is a retired American naval officer and Department of Defense official. He was Deputy National Security Advisor and National Security Advisor for the Reagan administration. He was convicted in April of 1990 of multiple felonies as a result of his actions in the Iran-Contra scandal. His convictions were eventually reversed on appeal in 1991. More recently, he served a brief stint as the Director of the DARPA Information Awareness Office for the administration of George W. Bush.