DHS names Spires as new CIO

The Homeland Security Department is bringing back a familiar face to be its chief information officer.

DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano today announces the appointment of Richard Spires to be CIO.

Spires is the former CIO and deputy commissioner for operations support at the IRS.

He left government in July 2008.

Since Sept. 2008, Spires has owned his own consulting practice, according to his Linked In profile.

"Richard has an impressive record of managing large-scale IT programs and I look forward to working with him to find more efficient and innovative ways to help the department meet its strategic and information resource management goals," Napolitano says in a release.

Spires replaces Richard Mangogna, who left in March 2009. Margie Graves has been acting CIO since Mangonga left.

Spires will be responsible for managing and directing information management support processes, combining the functions of information technology and telecommunications to provide coordinated support strategies for meeting DHS-mission related information needs, DHS says in the release.

Before joining the IRS, Spires worked in industry for almost 20 years, first with SRA International and then with Mantas, a software vendor.

Spires inherits a $6.2 billion IT budget-the largest among civilian agencies -- and several high profile programs, including DHS's data center consolidation, OneNet program and a struggling financial system modernization effort, called TASC.

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