TSA deputy CIO moving to U.S. Courts

Joe Peters, the Transportation Security Administration’s deputy chief information officer, has become the fourth senior technology executive to leave the Homeland Security Department in the past month.In an e-mail message to colleagues, Peters said he had accepted the position of deputy assistant director for information technology at the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. His last day at TSA will be March 14.“Every once in a while an opportunity presents itself that gives you yet another chance to grow as an individual and professional,” Peters wrote in explaining his reason for leaving. He added that it was a tough decision.Peters joins Charles Church, director and CIO at DHS’ National Protection and Programs Directorate, and Tony Cira, CIO of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, in moving to new positions outside DHS. Church and Cira returned to industry.Additionally, Patty Titus, TSA’s chief information security officer, announced last week that she is leaving the agency to join Unisys. Those resignations and the promotion of CIO Scott Charbo to a deputy undersecretary position have created several openings at the executive level. Peters joined the government shortly after the 2001 terrorist attacks. He played a key role in setting up TSA’s IT infrastructure and helped develop a service-oriented architecture to improve information sharing.“As I look back, I am amazed at the amount of quality work we have produced in just six short years,” he wrote. “I am even more amazed at the caliber of people I have been surrounded by, and the friends I have made here will be the hardest thing to walk away from.”