Christine Calvosa officially named FCC CIO
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai announced Monday that he has officially appointed Christine Calvosa to the role of agency CIO.
“I am delighted that Ms. Calvosa will be serving as the FCC’s Chief Information Officer,” Pai said in a statement. “The FCC’s aggressive agenda requires an expert and agile information technology team. That team needs a leader with deep expertise in all aspects of IT development, deployment, and information security.”
Calvosa isn’t new to the role — she’s been serving as acting CIO since summer 2017 when former tech head David Bray left the agency. Prior to that, she worked as the agency’s deputy CIO under Bray.
Bray’s tenure at the FCC has devolved into some controversy since he left the agency. Bray infamously claimed that the agency had been a victim of a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack in May 2017. Other experts immediately questioned his claims and, eventually, the FCC’s inspector general said it did not occur. Pai has laid blame for the misinformation squarely at Bray’s feet.
“I am deeply disappointed that the FCC’s former Chief Information Officer (CIO), who was hired by the prior Administration and is no longer with the Commission, provided inaccurate information about this incident to me, my office, Congress, and the American people,” he said in a statement at the time of the IG’s report. He also intimated that others working with Bray, as Calvosa was at that time, had doubts about the information.
“Ms. Calvosa has demonstrated the ability to deliver on this agency’s complex information technology requirements,” Pai said in the statement announcing her appointment. “I look forward to continuing to work with her.”
