Lieutenant General Howard W. Penney (December 5, 1918 – June 25, 2004) of United States Army, was first director of Defense Mapping Agency from July 1972 to August 1974.

Under Penney's leadership, the new agency focused its assets into a decentralized structure with a lean staff to respond to the rising demands for geographic information by a variety of military users.

[2] In response to President Nixon’s directive of July 1971, Lieutenant General Penney consolidated the Department of Defense's military mapping, charting and geodesy (MC&G) activities and created DMA.

Under his leadership from July 1972 to August 1974, the new agency focused these assets into a decentralized structure with a very lean staff to respond to the high demands for geographic information by military users.

[3] In 2001 Lt. Gen. Penney was inducted into the inaugural class of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency Hall of Fame, where he is credited for "helping the military overcome doubts as to whether or not DMA could meet their needs.