National Security Agency names new CIO

The National Security Agency Tuesday tapped Richard Turner, former chief information officer for the Federal Trade Commission, to oversee the intelligence agency's information systems. Turner, who has held key IT positions for NASA and the Army, replaces Raymond Holter. Holter retired earlier this year after 34 years of federal service. "The National Security Agency has much to gain by hiring from [outside the agency] for skills that are not directly related to our mission of [signals intelligence] and information assurance," said Air Force Lt. Gen. Michael Hayden, director of NSA, in a press release. "We need to leverage the skills available from other sources that will encourage us to focus on being world class in those skills that directly define who we are." Turner's top priority will be to oversee the outsourcing of hundreds of agency IT support jobs under Project Groundbreaker. The outsourcing deal, covering 10 years and valued at as much as $5 billion, calls for a contractor to provide technology support for all of the agency's technical needs that are not mission-critical. The winning contractor will be named by July 31. NSA also named Michael Lawrence as the agency's new chief of legislative affairs on Tuesday. Lawrence, who has more than two decades of legislative, intergovernmental and public affairs experience, will report directly to Hayden.