Retiring Hastings to plunge into Deepwater Point

Scott Hastings, chief information officer at the Homeland Security Department’s U.S. Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology (US-VISIT) program, will retire Oct. 13 after a 23-year federal career.

He announced his retirement last month.

Sometime later this month, Hastings will join Deepwater Point, a consulting firm composed mainly of retired high-ranking federal officials. The company specializes in strategic planning and new business ventures.

Hastings said he was retiring because he felt he “really needed to shake things up a little bit in terms of how I engage and get a little more control over my days.” He added that the idea of working with multiple companies as a consultant was an appealing prospect.

“So after looking at a few consulting models, I picked one,” he said, adding that he’s known Deepwater partner Jack Neal for a number of years. “I’m kind of excited.”

He said he’d like to use his programming and identity management expertise in the private sector. “But I’m not the one who’ll be making those decisions,” he added. “Jack probably has a good idea.”

Neal said Hastings’ federal background and experience will make him a useful resource for industry in the security and information technology areas.

Hastings joined DHS at its inception, transferring from his role as CIO at the Immigration and Naturalization Service before it became part of DHS and was renamed Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He later moved to the US-VISIT program.

Hastings said DHS is a challenging place to work. “I loved the US-VISIT program. I think it’s going to be a very vital part of what needs to be done to develop a department that [currently] has a lot of major issues to deal with.”

He expects it will take a month or two to build up a client base, but for now he’s concentrating on building a wood shop at his home in West Virginia. “That was my first thing I did out of college. I ran a custom residential housing business for about six years,” he said.