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US Homeland Security CIO hits ctrl-alt-delete after just three months

Staropoli lasts just under nine Mooches

The chief information officer of America's Department of Homeland Security has become the latest Trump administration appointee to resign.

Richard Staropoli, the former US secret service agent who at one time vowed to run the department "like a hedge fund," will be leaving at the end of the month. Staropoli had been appointed to the CIO position by the Trump White House in May of this year. Prior to that he had worked at hedge fund Fortress Investment group as the CISO and head of global security.

Staropoli had also spent 25 years working in the US Secret Service. According to his bio, Staropoli's duties included work with the Presidential Protective Division, the Counter Assault Team, and the Secret Service's Hostage Rescue Unit.

Staropoli's most notable moment as CIO came in June, when he vowed to run the IT program at the DHS in the same way he ran the hedge fund's. This came amidst a larger overhaul of a number of US departments and a cull of some of the more antiquated and unnecessary IT practices across the entire government.

The resignation will not be particularly welcome news to a Trump administration that is already trying to deal with around 500 vacant critical positions, and the turnover of key government officials.

Most notably, the role of Staropoli's would-be boss, the President's Chief of Staff, has been passed from Reince Priebus to former Homeland Security supremo John Kelly. In the background to all this, Anthony Scaramucci was communications director for all of 11 days.

According to The Hill, deputy DHS CIO Stephen Rice will take over as CIO until a replacement can be appointed. ®

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