TSA names spy agency vet as CIO

A veteran of the tech-savvy, super spying National Security Agency has been named as chief information officer for the Transportation Security Administration. Emma Garrison-Alexander, a former senior official at the NSA, will head TSA's Office of Information Technology and manage a budget of about $400 million.
 
"She will provide vision and leadership for developing and implementing IT initiatives across TSA," said Gale Rossides, TSA's Acting Administrator in a news release. "Her experience in signals intelligence and information technology systems will be a strategic asset. We are fortunate to have her with us and her skills will no doubt continue to set the standard for excellence in transportation security."

Garrison-Alexander most recently served as NSA's Deputy for Counterterrorism for Signals Intelligence. She also was the senior operations officer at NSA. The TSA is part of the Homeland Security Department and oversees security at airports, seaports, mass-transit facilities and other transportation assets.

In her role as CIO, she will be responsible for developing and managing central policies and procedures for all of TSA's IT requirements.

For more on the new CIO: 
- see this Federal Computer Week article