FCC CIO Bray to Lead Innovation Office at NGA

Federal Communications Commission CIO David Bray will leave his post next month and become the leader of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency's new Office of Ventures and Innovation, NGA Director Robert Cardillo announced Monday. In a speech at the GEOINT 2017 Symposium in San Antonio, Texas, Cardillo said Bray is "a true change agent," and that he expects "big things from him."

The new office will be tasked with driving innovation, both internally at NGA and with the intelligence agency's commercial partners, Cardillo said. The NGA is in charge of collecting, analyzing and distributing geospatial intelligence, especially through satellite imagery, for national security officials. 

Nextgov reports that Bray's position will be a "first-of-its-kind government position to advise the agency on the acquisition of emerging technologies, improving business processes and further developing new public-private partnerships."

Bray confirmed the move in an email to FedScoop, and said the transition to NGA has been in development for the past nine months. In a note to FCC staff about his coming departure obtained by FedScoop, Bray said that "the expectations for me in the new leadership role will be similar to what we collectively have accomplished at the FCC: encourage strategic change to meet evolving internal and external demands on the Agency." Bray said he will lead the "broad mission-focused adoption of automated and machine learning algorithms into the workforce, workflows, and acquisition pathways of NGA."  

Christine Calvosa, the FCC’s deputy CIO for technology and resiliency, will move up to acting CIO when Bray leaves the agency. Bray has headed the commision's IT operations since August 2013.