State CIO to leave

Bruce Morrison, chief information officer at the State Department, is leaving his post to enter the private sector.

Morrison, 55, who has been on the job for more than two years, said he is one of a number of people at State who is leaving as the agency's leadership changes. Secretary of State Colin Powell said last month that he would leave his Cabinet post as soon as the Senate confirms a successor.

"We've gotten to green" on the President's Management Agenda, Morrison said. "We've really done a lot of things that Secretary Powell asked us to do. I think the new secretary will no doubt want to have her own people."

President Bush recently nominated national security adviser Condoleezza Rice to replace Powell.

Morrison, a career State officer, held information technology roles at embassies in Tokyo; Belgrade, Serbia; Prague, Czech Republic; and Paris, where he managed the financial operations for Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

He said his biggest accomplishment, however, was being CIO. He was responsible for making sure all department employees were connected to the Internet and all U.S. posts had classified local-area networks.

Morrison said he would stay in the Washington, D.C., area, but hasn't started looking for a job in the private sector yet.