Circuit: Who's in, who's out and who's changed jobs

It was a rough year for the Homeland Security Department. Information technology executives spent only a couple of years at the government's newest agency before moving on. Here's a list of movers, shakers and newcomers at DHS and elsewhere in the government IT world in 2005.

After three years as the chief information officer at DHS, Steve Cooper left to become CIO at the American Red Cross.

Scott Charbo left the CIO post at the Agriculture Department to replace Cooper at DHS. David Combs became the new CIO at the USDA.

Michael Jackson, former deputy secretary at the Transportation Department, became second-in-command at DHS.

President Bush nominated George Foresman, Virginia's assistant to the governor for commonwealth preparedness, to be the first undersecretary for preparedness at DHS.

Dr. Jeffrey Runge left his post as administrator of DOT's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to become chief medical officer at DHS.

Charles Armstrong, CIO at DHS' Border and Transportation Security Directorate, was named Charbo's deputy at DHS.

Greg Rothwell, DHS' chief procurement officer, and Robert Bonner, commissioner of the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection at DHS, retired.

Asa Hutchinson, DHS' first undersecretary for border and transportation security, left to run for governor of Arkansas.

Justin Oberman, the Transportation Security Administration's top official for passenger screening and credentialing programs, joined Crestview Capital Funds, a hedge fund that invests in small companies, as senior analyst for homeland security, transportation and related industries.TSA's CIO, David Zeppieri, resigned.

Daniel Mehan retired as CIO at the Federal Aviation Administration, and Rose Parkes retired as Energy Department CIO.

Kim Nelson resigned as CIO at the Environmental Protection Agency to take a new position at Microsoft as executive director of e-government.

After serving in an acting capacity for a year, Dr. Jonathan Perlin became the undersecretary for health at the Department of Veterans Affairs, and Craig Luigart became CIO at the Veterans Health Administration.

Stephen Perry stepped down as GSA administrator. Marty Wagner, associate administrator at GSA's Office of Governmentwide Policy, became acting commissioner of the agency's new Federal Acquisition Service. Barbara Shelton left that post to return to her previous job as administrator of the agency's Mid-Atlantic Region. Sandy Bates, former commissioner of GSA's Federal Technology Service, joined Topside Consulting Group.

Two new CIOs are on the job in the military: John Grimes was named assistant secretary of Defense for networks and information integration, and Maj. Gen. Michael Peterson became chief of the Office of the Secretary of the Air Force, Chief of Warfighting Integration and CIO.

John Gilligan, former Air Force CIO, joined SRA International as vice president and deputy director of the company's defense sector.

Lisa Schlosser was named CIO at the Department of Housing and Development.

Meanwhile, David Safavian, administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy, resigned days before his arrest and indictment on charges that he allegedly obstructed a GSA proceeding, obstructed a U.S. Senate proceeding and made false statements.

On the industry side, Norman Lorentz, appointed the first chief technology officer for the federal government in 2002, was named senior vice president and CTO at Blueprint Technologies.

Telecommunications executive James Payne joined Bechtel Systems and Infrastructure as president of its new federal telecom division.

Debra Stouffer left BAE Systems to join Digital Management as senior vice president of business development.

Fred Thompson left Unisys to become vice president of management and technology at the Council for Excellence in Government. Dave McClure, vice president of e-government at the council, joined Gartner as a research director.

Bob Golas, former executive director of business development at Oracle Federal, is now vice president of public-sector business development at Savi Technology.

Alan Balutis left Veridyne to join market research firm Input as president and chief executive officer of government strategies.

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