CIO Nomination Withdrawn

By Jordana Mishory / October 1, 2010 at 3:04 PM

The post of Defense Department chief information officer is back up for grabs.

President Barack Obama has withdrawn his nomination of Teresa Takai for the CIO position, according to a statement the White House released Wednesday.

The post, which has been empty since John Grimes vacated it in spring 2009, is undergoing a major overhaul in light of the defense secretary's initiative to save $100 billion through efficiencies in the next five years.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates plans to disestablish the networks and information integration office, which the CIO post was tied to. According to a Sept. 1 memo from Gates' special assistant, the CIO functions are to be bolstered and transferred to the Defense Information Systems Agency.

Obama named Takai, California's chief information officer, in late March. She was removed from her planned confirmation hearing in August.

In other nomination news, Obama named Michael Vickers to replace James Clapper as the under secretary of defense for intelligence and Jo Ann Rooney to be the principal deputy under secretary of defense for personnel and readiness. If confirmed, Rooney will succeed Michael Dominguez.

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