Interior CIO Paul McInerny exits position

The Interior Department’s top technology official left the agency last week after falling out of favor with administration officials, according to a person familiar with the matter, ending a short tenure for a former SpaceX engineer brought in amid the Trump administration’s push to remake federal technology operations.

Paul “Macca” McInerny, who had served as Interior’s chief information officer since May 2025, departed the department Thursday, said the person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss their knowledge of the exit. They described the departure as a mutual decision between McInerny and the Trump administration.

Matt Luby, a top strategy official in Interior involved with Department of Government Efficiency efforts over the last year and a longtime friend of former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, is now the agency’s acting CIO, added the person. 

Federal News Network first reported that McInerny had stepped down for a new professional opportunity, citing an email to staff from the Office of the CIO. Luby’s appointment as acting CIO has not been previously reported.

McInerny joined Interior after former CIO Darren Ash was placed on administrative leave last year amid disputes over DOGE’s access to a sensitive payroll system. His arrival marked his first federal government job after nearly three decades in the private sector, including work as a lead engineer at SpaceX, helmed by Elon Musk, who helped lead the Trump administration’s DOGE push to shrink the government and overhaul federal operations.

McInerny was not a formal member of the federal DOGE organization, though he was closely aligned with Musk’s broader efficiency-focused circle and came into the job with an efficiency-minded approach to the role, the person said.

But McInerny had no prior experience running a large federal IT organization, and his tenure became strained as Interior continued to face unresolved technology consolidation challenges, the person added.

One suspected source of frustration involved Interior’s effort to consolidate and speed up permitting systems, including systems tied to Bureau of Land Management leasing and energy development, the person said. 

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum has made expanding domestic energy production and speeding federal permitting a central priority, including at the Bureau of Land Management, which oversees oil and gas leasing on public lands. But carrying out that agenda depends in part on Interior’s ability to modernize and consolidate the technology systems used to process permits, leases and related applications, an area that remained a source of frustration during McInerny’s tenure, the person said.

During McInerny’s tenure, Interior instructed bureaus and offices to remove non-English content from department websites, a directive that became one of the more visible digital policy changes associated with the Office of the CIO under his leadership.

McInerny’s tenure also unfolded as Interior aggressively implemented the Trump administration’s broader push to unwind diversity, equity and inclusion programs and reshape public-facing agency materials. In March, the department circulated a memo encouraging employees to report suspected DEI-related activities and reminding staff that refusing to participate in such efforts would be treated as protected whistleblower activity.