FBI names tech execs

United States Attorneys Web site

The FBI has named a new acting chief information officer and a new acting chief technology officer.

Zalmai Azmi will replace Wilson Lowery, the FBI's executive assistant director for administration, who has served as the acting CIO since May 2003. Stephen Schmidt will become the bureau's acting CTO, responsible for guiding information technology research and development, officials said.

As CIO, Azmi will be responsible for the FBI's overall IT efforts, including developing an IT strategic plan and operational budget, developing and maintaining the FBI's technology assets and providing technical direction for the re-engineering of the FBI's business processes, FBI officials said.

Schmidt, who is currently section chief of the Cyber Division's Special Technologies and Applications Section, will initially focus on centralizing the bureau's current IT projects and ensuring the best way to share bureau intelligence data on common platforms, officials said.

Azmi joins the FBI from the Justice Department, where he was the CIO for the Executive Office for the United States Attorneys. FBI Director Robert Mueller announced the appointments Dec. 30, 2003.

At the Justice Department, Azmi was responsible for IT, telecommunications, and information systems security and engineering functions for the more than 250 U.S. Attorneys' sites around the world. He created and implemented a multiyear strategic plan that includes integrated business and litigation support application systems and the modernization and expansion of the IT infrastructure, which is comprised of 16,500 computers, 800 servers, 4,400 printers, a virtual private network and an intrusion detection system, officials said.

Azmi is also credited with developing the U.S. Attorneys' first enterprise architecture and implementing a centralized help desk.

Azmi received an associate's degree in systems analysis and design from Northern Virginia Community College, a bachelor's in computer science and information systems from American University and a master's in management information systems from George Washington University.

Before joining the FBI in 1998, Schmidt was vice president for operations at American Information Systems and previously worked for an intellectual property law firm in Chicago, officials said. Schmidt received a bachelor's degree in economics with a minor in computer science from Haverford College and a law degree from John Marshall Law School.