Margaret Parangosky

Vice Admiral Margaret O. Parangosky (UNSCMID 03669271) was the director of the Office of Naval Intelligence.

Background
Born in 2461, Parangosky was short and aged, yet sharp and cold as ice. Despite her withered appearance, she was very powerful and deadly: only one person had ever crossed her and lived, and Colonel James Ackerson considered her to be the most dangerous person in the UNSC. Parangosky was a Rear Admiral by 2511,

After the Battle of Groombridge-1830 in 2530, Admiral Preston Cole wrote down a strategy that would slow down the Covenant from finding Earth; secrecy. This law was approved by Parangosky and would become known as the Cole Protocol.

Restriction of Onyx
Late in her career, Margaret Parangosky restricted the planet, Onyx, from the rest of the UNSC after they discovered Forerunner ruins on the surface of the planet in 2511. She would return several times to check up on and report on the project, but it was eventually sidelined so funding could go elsewhere.

Spartan-III Project
In 2531, Parangosky was aboard the, where she attended a meeting with Rear Admiral Rich and Capt. Gibson where Col. James Ackerson would propose the Spartan-III project. Parangosky approved the creation of Alpha Company, and authorized a plan in which Lieutenant (Jr Grade) Kurt Ambrose would be abducted and put in charge of training the Spartan-III's.

In 2537, Parangosky was once again aboard the Point of No Return, to review the progress of the Spartan-III project and to authorize Beta Company, following the destruction of Alpha Company in Operation: PROMETHEUS. She died sometime after.

Trivia

 * Her name is seen in a memorial plaque inside the ONI Alpha Base on Earth, indicating that she died before October, 2552.
 * Her inclusion in the memorial is strange, however, since it is to honor those who "gave their lives in service of the UNSC," and most likely excudes those who had died of natural causes. With her at such an old age and her important position as the director of ONI, it is unlikely that she would have been anywhere near the front lines. It is possible that she was held with so much respect that she was added to the memorial anyway, or her addition was non-canonical or just a simple oversight by Bungie.
 * The last time she is mentioned, she is 76 years old, although many people describe her as looking almost 170 years,
 * Colonel James Ackerson said that she was one of the most dangerous people in the galaxy. It is also said that only one person has crossed her and lived, and that was Dr. Catherine Elizabeth Halsey.