PHOENIX — A long-time state employee and former CIA agent, Tim Roemer, has been tapped to serve as Director of the Arizona Department of Homeland Security. Roemer will assume the post immediately.
Roemer, currently Arizona’s Chief Information Security Officer, will succeed Gil Orrantia, who last month informed Governor Ducey of his intention to retire as the department’s director after 11 years.
Ducey announced that the cybersecurity operations overseen by Roemer in the Arizona Department of Administration (ADOA) will become part of the Department of Homeland Security.
Roemer said that combining the state’s cybersecurity mission with the Department of Homeland Security will better protect Arizona from increasing cybersecurity attacks.
As part of the transition, Roemer will appoint a Deputy Chief Information Security Officer to manage the cyber-related issues of the Department.
Roemer was appointed as Arizona’s Chief Information Security Officer at ADOA in July 2019, where he has led the cybersecurity team in defending Arizona from rising cyberattacks and helped protect the state’s technology infrastructure and data. He has also worked with the Secretary of State on the 2020 election.
Roemer has served as the Governor’s Deputy Director of Legislative Affairs. Prior to that, Roemer held a dual role as the Governor’s Public Safety Advisor and the Deputy Director for the Arizona Department of Homeland Security.
Roemer served in the Central Intelligence Agency for 10 years. The final two years of his CIA career were spent as a nonpartisan detailee to the White House Situation Room, where he provided national security updates to the President, Vice President, and National Security Council. In this role, he briefed senior U.S. policy makers on a diverse range of national security related issues.
In addition to his time in the West Wing, Roemer supported CIA’s mission at its Headquarters in McLean, Virginia where he worked in the Office of Congressional Affairs and the Office of Acquisitions. He also completed assignments at the National Reconnaissance Office and the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency.
Roemer graduated from Arizona State University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication and a minor in Political Science.