Top IT Officer At DHS Resigns 3 Months After Taking Job

Homeland Security emblem on a podium at citizenship ceremony at The Bronx Zoo in The Bronx borough of New York, NY, on May 5, 2017. 32 children, ranging in age from 5 to 13 years old, attended the ceremony and became... Homeland Security emblem on a podium at citizenship ceremony at The Bronx Zoo in The Bronx borough of New York, NY, on May 5, 2017. 32 children, ranging in age from 5 to 13 years old, attended the ceremony and became U.S. citizens. (Anthony Behar) *** Please Use Credit from Credit Field ***(Sipa via AP Images) MORE LESS
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The Department of Homeland Security confirmed on Monday that the department’s chief information officer resigned last week only three months after he was hired.

Department spokeswoman Lucy Martinez confirmed in an email to TPM that Richard Staropoli resigned last week from the top information technology role at DHS.

“Starting Sept. 1, Deputy CIO Stephen Rice will serve as the Acting CIO until the President appoints a new CIO for the Department,” Martinez told TPM.

President Donald Trump in May appointed Staropoli, a former U.S. Secret Service agent and information security officer at an international hedge fund, as the department’s chief information officer.

FedScoop first reported Staropoli’s resignation, which came days after Trump tapped Staropoli’s boss, Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, to fill the role of White House chief of staff, last week.

Staropoli in June said he wanted to run his DHS office at a pace comparable to that of “a hedge fund in New York.”

In remarks at an annual gathering run by FedScoop, Staropoli said he wanted to “open the doors to the private sector” and “see what’s going on.”

“I cannot continue to operate at the pace at which we’re operating,” he said, according to FedScoop. “You want something done? You’ve got 45 seconds to explain to me what you need and what I can do to help you.”

Days later at the ACT-IAC acquisition conference in June, Staropoli boasted of his longevity as an officer at a hedge fund.

“Most hedge fund managers stay in their high-pressure, fast-paced jobs for only a year to a year-and-a-half,” he said, according to a report by FCW. “I stayed for eight years.”

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