Chief Technology Officer
Christopher A. Bartz serves as the Deputy Chief Information Officer for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO).
As Deputy Chief Information Officer (DCIO), RADM Bartz is responsible for leading transformative initiatives and securing, operating, and maintaining enterprise infrastructure. In addition, RADM Bartz is responsible for aligning the Department’s Information Technology (IT) personnel and assets to support DHS core missions and activities.
Before joining DHS OCIO, Rear Admiral Bartz served as the assistant commandant for command, control, communications, computers, and IT (C4&IT), where he generated and managed IT requirements for afloat, aviation, and shore-based assets. His role with C4&IT showcases his readiness to manage complex information technology infrastructures.
Rear Admiral Bartz previously served as the Director of Training and Exercises at U.S. Cyber Command, where he developed joint training and readiness standards and orchestrated large scale exercises for active duty and reserve cyber mission forces, partner nations, government agencies, and private industry.
Rear Admiral Bartz has also served as the Coast Guard’s Chief Information Security Officer, where he established policies and procedures focused on enhancing cybersecurity in the Service. Additionally, he led software development efforts for 55 enterprise software applications and oversaw the Service’s enterprise data center during his assignment as the Commanding Officer of the Coast Guard’s Operation’s System Center.
A designated Coast Guard aviator and Aeronautical Engineer, Rear Admiral Bartz received his wings in 1994 and accumulated over 3,300 hours of helicopter flight time. His operational assignments included Air Station North Bend, Oregon; Aviation Training Center Mobile, Alabama; Air Station Detroit, Michigan; and Air Station New Orleans, Louisiana. He is credited with over 120 search and rescue cases, resulting in over 60 persons saved or assisted. As a member of the Polar Operations Division, he deployed aboard Coast Guard icebreakers to support operations in Antarctica and Alaska. As well as conducting law enforcement and drug and migrant interdiction operations, he participated in the Coast Guard response to Hurricane Katrina and to the search and rescue and oil pollution response following the tragic explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon Mobile Drilling Unit in the Gulf of Mexico.
Rear Admiral Bartz earned a Bachelor of Science in Marine Engineering and Naval Architecture from the Coast Guard Academy in 1990; a Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Alabama in 2002; and holds a certificate in Enterprise Architecture from the National Defense University. He is a certified DHS Level 3 Program Manager and a Certified Information Systems Security Professional.
