The FBI, at least, does not seem to subscribe to the oddly popular notion that the catastrophe on Wall Street was caused or significantly contributed to by poor IT leadership. Or at least they seem not to blame former Lehman Brothers' IT head Chad Fulgham individually for the mess, since they have now hired him as CIO, replacing the outgoing Zalmai Azmi. Azmi, hired in 2004 and responsible for much of the heavy lifting of the agency's IT systems revamp in the wake of the dramatic sea changes predicated by 9/11, departed the agency for the private sector in October.

Azmi had ascended the ranks from within the Justice Department, whereas Fulgham represents fresh (if potentially tainted, in some eyes) blood. Fulgham's background in IT security may be an important factor in his selection. Azmi's project implementation work has at least gotten the ball rolling on many important modernization efforts within the bureau, but after the feds get their terrorist-hunting coordination off the ground, then surely the more pedestrian but increasingly organized and focused criminal elements scouring the Internet are due for some attention. Security isn't really sexy (well, maybe compared to the rest of IT) but in the wake of news that both presidential candidates' campaigns were penetrated by hackers apparently working for or sponsored by foreign intelligence operations it seems like a good time to focus on defense.