April 10th, 2008
DHS to name new CIO
The Department of Homeland Security said this week that it will name Richard Mangogna CIO.
Mangogna comes to the DHS from Mason Harriman Group, where he was a senior advisory to the firm’s agencies. He also was CIO at JP Morgan Chase, the division head of Business Re-engineering Management at Chase Manhattan Bank and President and CEO of COVIDEA online technology services.
In a statement, DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff said Mangogna has “the managerial and information technology experience needed to continue the great progress already made with our department’s technology systems.”
Nevertheless, the DHS gig is likely to be a headache for Mangogna. DHS, which churns through technology executives, has been had three CIOs in five years not counting deputies that stepped up on an interim basis. Simply put, melding the IT systems among 22 separate agencies is challenging to say the least and potentially impossible.
In 2005, the DHS named Scott Charbo CIO. Two years later Charbo was promoted out of the position. Before Charbo, Steve Cooper was the CIO of the DHS. Cooper left in April 2005 to become CIO of the American Red Cross. Cooper was named CIO in 2003 by President Bush. Add it up and you have an average tenure of two years for a CIO position that in theory is responsible for the technology of a massive department.
Here’s to hoping Mangogna sticks long enough to make real progress.
More reading:
- DHS CIO Charbo promoted; other leadership posts filled.
- DHS struggles with turnover.
- Obama outlines federal CTO position; Where’s the power?
- GAO report on DHS IT challenges.
Larry Dignan is Editor in Chief of ZDNet and Editorial Director of ZDNet sister site TechRepublic. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
