White House picks Richard Staropoli as DHS CIO

The White House has appointed Richard Staropoli to be CIO of the Department of Homeland Security.

Staropoli takes the position — vacated by Luke McCormack in January and held by Jeanne Etzel in the interim — after serving most recently as managing director and chief information security officer of Fortress Investment Group, a billion-dollar hedge fund in New York City.

“In this role, he established a formalized program for conducting investigative due-diligence across the firm as it relates to Credit, Real Estate, Private Equity and Liquid Markets deals relying on traditional and non-traditional investigative and intelligence gathering approaches,” according to a White House Statement.

Prior to that, he spent more than two decades with the Secret Service as a special agent, during which he worked with the Presidential Protective Division, as leader of the Counter Assault Team and as the chief of polygraph operations, according to the White House. The announcement also highlights a commendation he received from President George W. Bush for his actions in the White House on Sept. 11, 2001.

The DHS CIO position does not need Senate confirmation.

DHS did not comment on Staropoli’s appointment prior to publication.