TSA names Garrison-Alexander as CIO

The Transportation Security Administration has has named former senior National Security Agency signal intelligence executive Emma Garrison-Alexander as its CIO.

The Transportation Security Administration has named Emma Garrison-Alexander as its chief information officer.

Garrison-Alexander, a former senior official at the National Security Agency, also will serve as the TSA’s assistant administrator, the agency announced June 10.

She will lead the TSA’s Office of Information Technology, which has a budget of about $400 million. The agency, which is part of the Homeland Security Department, oversees security at airports, seaports, mass-transit facilities and other transportation assets.

Garrison-Alexander’s most recent position at the NSA was as deputy for counterterrorism for signals intelligence development. She also was the senior operations officer at the NSA and a graduate of that agency's senior leadership development program.

Garrison-Alexander "will provide vision and leadership for developing and implementing IT initiatives across TSA," Gale Rossides, TSA's acting administrator, said in a news release. "Her experience in signals intelligence and information technology systems will be a strategic asset.”

Garrison-Alexander has a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, a master’s in telecommunications management and a doctorate in management, with a focus on technology and information systems.