New DOD principal deputy CIO on the job

John Zangardi, most recently deputy assistant secretary of the Navy for command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, information operations and space, has replaced David DeVries as the Defense Department's principal deputy CIO.

DeVries left to serve as CIO at the Office of Personnel Management as it proceeds with the launch of a DOD-aligned background check agency.

Zangardi assumed his new position on Oct. 2 and is the lead adviser on IT, cybersecurity, space systems, spectrum and telecommunications.

The retired naval flight officer served as the Navy's acting CIO in 2014 and 2015 and previously held positions in the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Communications Networks Directorate and the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Information Dominance.

While serving in the Department of the Navy, Zangardi championed partnerships with industry, the Next Generation Enterprise Network contract, data center consolidation, the transition to cloud technology and DOD's Joint Information Environment initiative.

He joins DOD as it continues to push forward with JIE. In August, department officials released a new guiding document titled "Way Forward to Tomorrow's Strategic Landscape" to outline the latest steps toward the JIE framework.

Goals include upgrading DOD systems to Microsoft Windows 10, consolidating data centers, transitioning to cloud technology and strengthening access controls for DOD networks. At the time of the document's release, DOD CIO Terry Halvorsen said achieving JIE goals is as much about "getting people to think differently and accept that they have to think differently [as it is about] any of the technology pieces."

Zangardi earned an M.S. from the Naval Postgraduate School and a Ph.D. from George Mason University.