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The General Services Administration chief information officer has left the agency to take the top technology job at the Health and Human Services Department.

Michael Carleton, who has served as CIO at GSA for seven years, will become the department's chief information officer and deputy assistant secretary for information technology, HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt announced today. The position is not confirmed by the Senate.

GSA did not have an immediate comment.

Carleton replaces Charles Havekost, who announced in April that he was leaving the department to take a position with the International Atomic Energy Association in Vienna, Austria.

Carleton’s new assignment brings him back to the department where he began his federal career in 1979. Prior to joining GSA in 2000, he was the HHS deputy director of the office of information resources management and CIO for the Office of the Secretary.

"Mike’s experience from his years of federal service and previous tenure at HHS make him the ideal choice to lead this department’s information technology programs,” Leavitt said in a statement. “His career successes demonstrate his understanding of not only the importance of technology in delivering information to our citizens, but also the need to identify new and innovative ways to add value."

In his new role, Carleton will oversee the department's IT resources, program systems and infrastructure. He holds a master of science in information resources management from Syracuse University and a master of public administration from Northeastern University.