Navy’s chief information officer steps down

WASHINGTON — The Department of the Navy’s Chief Information Officer announced she is exiting the federal government after over 30 years in service. 

Jane Rathbun, who served as the DON’s CIO from March 2023, announced her exit from the role in a LinkedIn post Friday, but she didn’t say why she is leaving the government nor what her next steps will be. 

“It is with gratitude, pride, and humility that I close out this chapter of my career as a civil servant,” Rathbun wrote.

“It’s hard to sum up 30+ years of an amazing career in National Security,” she said, adding that she worked “with and for some of the most brilliant and dedicated minds the world has ever seen.” 

The Navy did not respond to an inquiry regarding why Rathbun exited her post nor who will replace her.

According to her official bio, as the DON’s CIO, Rathbun oversaw major information technology programs like the Navy’s Flank Speed enterprise environment, worked on enhancing cyber readiness through programs like zero trust, prioritized containerization methods and was adamant about moving to the cloud — all which was part of her roughly $12 billion portfolio. 

She was also vocal about welcoming modernization efforts spurred by the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency. 

“I think that at its essence, what the DOGE wants to do is become more efficient, and that is core to how we view our own portfolio,” Rathbun told Breaking Defense in April. “We really would like to see them help us out, solve problems and get on the right path, and so I’m looking forward to engagements on that.”

Before Rathbun took her post as the DON’s CIO, she served in a dual-hatted position as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Information Warfare and Enterprise Services and as the Chief Technology Officer of the DON. In these roles she was responsible for Command, Control, Communications, and Cyber (C4) operations as well as larger software and cyber acquisition reforms. 

Prior to her days with the DON, Rathbun served in the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense acquisition for C4 and business systems and had stints at NASA and US African Command. 

Rathbun’s exit comes after other cuts have been made throughout the DON coupled with personnel shakeups, including the ousting of former Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti, who was the first woman to become a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.