CIOs of USDA, USAID named agency leaders until Trump picks enter office
A pair of long-tenured federal chief information officers — Gary Washington of the Agriculture Department and Jason Gray of the U.S. Agency for International Development — have been named acting leaders of their respective agencies for the time being.
While the newly inaugurated Trump administration awaits Senate confirmation of its initial nominations for Cabinet and Cabinet-level leaders, one of the White House’s first actions after the president took office Monday was designating leaders for those vacant roles “to perform the functions and duties of the indicated positions in an acting capacity until the position is filled by appointment.”
Washington, who has been CIO of USDA for nearly seven years and a member of the federal government since 1997, will support the department in the elevated role left vacant by Tom Vilsack, who resigned as the Biden administration left office.
President Donald Trump in November announced he would nominate Brooke Rollins, president and CEO of the America First Policy Institute and a White House aide during the president’s first term, to be USDA secretary. Rollins’ confirmation hearing is scheduled for Jan. 23 with the Senate Agriculture Committee.
Similarly, Gray, who has been CIO of USAID since August 2022 and a federal technology official for close to two decades, will act as his agency’s chief until the Trump administration appoints a permanent replacement.
So far, Trump hasn’t nominated or appointed anyone for USAID’s senior leadership roles, including the administrator role, which would require Senate confirmation.
