- Andrew Vanjani sworn in as CIO of USCIS to lead agency technology and cybersecurity operations.
- Priority objectives include strengthening fraud detection and modernizing critical infrastructure for processing immigration applications.
- The appointment ends a year-long leadership vacancy in the agency’s technology office since May 2025.
(UNITED STATES) – U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services swore in Andrew Vanjani as Chief Information Officer, putting him in charge of the agency’s technology operations and bringing him into the Senior Executive Service.
Vanjani took the oath before USCIS Executive Director Joseph Edlow, according to the agency announcement. The move places him in a post that oversees IT strategy, cybersecurity and the enterprise systems that support application processing, identity verification and case management.
His appointment comes with a defined set of priorities. Vanjani said he will focus on strengthening cybersecurity and fraud detection, modernizing infrastructure and improving service delivery through technology.
In the announcement, Vanjani framed the job in operational terms as USCIS handles heavy demand. “technology must be the backbone of integrity and the engine of efficiency,” he said.
USCIS has been without a permanent Chief Information Officer for nearly a year. Former USCIS CIO Bill McElhaney departed in May 2025, leaving the position vacant until Vanjani’s swearing-in.
The agency tied the appointment to a broader leadership transition in its technology office. Zach Kahler, a USCIS spokesman, said: “We are incredibly pleased that Andrew Vanjani has joined USCIS as the new Chief Information Officer. He shares the director’s vision of using advanced technology to create more efficient government and to protect the American people.”
Vanjani arrives with more than two decades of experience in public and private sector technology roles. USCIS said that background spans IT operations, digital transformation and enterprise modernization, areas that sit at the core of the agency’s day-to-day processing systems.
Before joining USCIS, Vanjani served as Chief Information Officer at the Organization of American States. He also held the roles of Director of General Services and Senior Digital Transformation Advisor to the Secretary for Administration and Finance there.
Those positions point to the mix of responsibilities he now inherits at USCIS. The agency’s Chief Information Officer does not simply manage internal networks; the office supports systems that touch nearly every stage of immigration case handling, from intake and identity checks to adjudication workflows and file management.
That scope gives the technology office a central role in how USCIS functions. Application processing, identity verification and case management all depend on enterprise systems that must stay secure, available and current as the agency handles historic application volumes.
Cybersecurity stands near the top of the list Vanjani inherits. USCIS identified strengthening cybersecurity and fraud detection as one of his stated priorities, linking the role directly to system integrity as well as service delivery.
Fraud detection carries operational weight inside an immigration agency whose systems process personal data, identity records and benefit requests. USCIS placed that function alongside infrastructure modernization, signaling that the agency sees protection and performance as part of the same technology agenda.
Modernizing infrastructure is another part of the brief. In practical terms, the Chief Information Officer role at USCIS sits over the enterprise systems that staff rely on to move cases, verify identities and manage records, making infrastructure decisions inseparable from the agency’s processing work.
Service delivery also appears prominently in the mandate. USCIS said Vanjani will work on improving service delivery through technology, a phrase that connects technology management to the public-facing side of the agency’s mission without separating it from internal security and efficiency.
His quote reflects that balance. By describing technology as both “the backbone of integrity” and “the engine of efficiency,” Vanjani tied fraud controls and cybersecurity to the same systems that shape processing and case management.
That pairing matters inside USCIS because the agency’s technology backbone supports critical operations rather than peripheral functions. Enterprise systems do the work of moving applications through processing channels, supporting identity verification and maintaining the case management structure on which officers depend.
Kahler’s statement placed Vanjani within the leadership’s broader approach to technology. The spokesman said the new Chief Information Officer shares the director’s vision of using advanced technology to create more efficient government and to protect the American people.
Edlow’s role in administering the oath also underscored the senior level of the appointment. Entry into the Senior Executive Service places Vanjani among the top ranks of federal management, giving the USCIS technology portfolio direct weight inside the agency’s leadership structure.
That status matters for an office whose decisions reach across operations. A Chief Information Officer in the Senior Executive Service has a hand in priorities that affect cybersecurity posture, enterprise modernization and how core systems support frontline adjudications and identity checks.
USCIS described Vanjani’s experience across both the public and private sectors, a combination often prized in technology leadership posts that span management, operations and modernization. The agency highlighted IT operations, digital transformation and enterprise modernization as the main threads in that record.
His most recent work at the Organization of American States adds another dimension to the background USCIS emphasized. Serving not only as Chief Information Officer but also as Director of General Services and Senior Digital Transformation Advisor to the Secretary for Administration and Finance suggests experience that crosses technology strategy and administrative execution.
At USCIS, those strands meet in a single portfolio. The Chief Information Officer oversees systems that need to function as secure government infrastructure while also serving as operational tools for a benefits agency processing large case volumes.
Historic application volumes formed part of Vanjani’s own framing of the task ahead. He cast technology as the mechanism that can preserve integrity and drive efficiency at the same time, rather than treating those goals as separate tracks.
USCIS, in turn, presented the appointment as part of an efficiency push. Kahler’s statement linked advanced technology with more efficient government and the protection of the American people, language that tied the IT office to broader agency performance and enforcement-related concerns.
The nearly year-long vacancy gives the appointment additional weight. Filling a post left open since McElhaney’s departure in May 2025 restores permanent leadership to a function that touches cybersecurity, fraud detection, infrastructure and the systems behind application processing.
Vanjani now steps into a job that sits at the intersection of policy delivery and technical execution. USCIS said he will lead the strategy and systems that support application processing, identity verification and case management, giving the new Chief Information Officer a direct hand in how the agency runs its core operations.
His stated agenda leaves little doubt about where USCIS expects movement. Cybersecurity and fraud detection, infrastructure modernization and technology-driven service delivery now stand as the immediate markers against which Andrew Vanjani’s tenure as Chief Information Officer at USCIS will be judged.
