Federal CIO Greg Barbaccia is stepping down

Greg Barbaccia is stepping down as federal CIO and leaving government at the end of August, he said in an email to the CIO Council Tuesday. “I’m writing to share that I’ve made the difficult decision to leave government, and my time as Federal CIO is coming to an end,” Barbaccia wrote to CIOs on the council in his email, obtained by FedScoop. Barbaccia, who joined the Trump administration as its top IT official in January 2025, said his last day in the role will be Aug. 31. Barbaccia’s departure comes just months after he brought on former Department of Education CIO Thomas Flagg to be his deputy. Flagg would be the default acting official with Barbaccia’s departure, a government chief information officer told FedScoop on the condition of anonymity to be more candid. As federal CIO, Barbaccia has also served as the federal chief AI officer of the U.S. government, playing a pivotal role in shaping AI policy, oversight and adoption across federal agencies.

The Defense Innovation Unit is undergoing a major reorganization effort that will overhaul and collapse its operational portfolios from seven to three technology priorities “where speed, scale, and lethality intersect,” two sources told DefenseScoop on Monday. One senior defense official and one defense official familiar with this realignment said the Pentagon would likely reveal DIU’s near-term plans and new internal structure publicly this week. The officials requested anonymity to speak freely ahead of the Defense Department’s official, forthcoming announcement. But they suggested that this shake-up and reset is intended to concentrate DIU’s experts and resources on a smaller, more focused set of real-world problem areas so the hub can deliver outcome-driven, reportable combat power to the U.S. military at faster and less expensive rates. DIU’s recently installed director under the second Trump administration, Owen West, initiated the reorg. The three new portfolios and priority topics that the unit will be structured around, according to the two officials, are drones and autonomous warfare, kill webs, and “10x” technologies.

The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon.

If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.