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Now that president-elect Barack Obama is officially on his way to the White House, it's time to make good on his numerous campaign pledges. Among them: his plan to appoint the first cabinet-level chief technology officer (CTO) tasked with, for starters, improving cyber security, spreading high-speed broadband Internet connectivity, and coordinating the efforts of the top info officers of the federal agencies, according to Change.gov, a Web site Obama's transition team set up to lay out the president-elect's plans for technology, the economy, education and several other issues.

Who's up to the task? CNET says that Obama's decision to include Julius Genachowski, a fellow Columbia University alum with significant biz and government experience in the tech sector, in his transition team may provide a clue. Genachowski, 45, was co-founder of Rock Creek Ventures, in Washington, D.C., which funds, launches, and advises digital media and commerce companies. He also served in executive positions for eight years at IAC/InterActiveCorp., a New York-based company that owns dozens of popular Web sites, including Ask.com, Citysearch.com and Match.com. Before joining IAC, Genachowski was chief counsel to former Federal Communications Commission chairman Reed Hundt and served as a law clerk to U.S. Supreme Court justices David H. Souter and William J. Brennan, Jr.

Obama's transition team, headed by John Podesta, the former Clinton White House chief of staff and current chief executive of Washington, D.C., think tank American Progress, reportedly has other candidates in mind as well. Among those reported to be on his short list: Hundt, age 60, William Kennard (51, another former Clinton-era FCC chief), Michael Nelson (44, the former director of Internet technology and strategy at IBM), Daniel Weitzner (an M.I.T. computer scientist and a policy director for the World Wide Web Consortium), Craigslist Founder Craig Newmark, 56, and 53-year-old Google CEO Eric Schmidt.

Tech blog Silicon Alley Insider speculates that Obama could recruit straight from the top tier of tech  giants. In addition to Schmidt, some others said to be in the running: CEOs Steve Ballmer (52, Microsoft)  and Jeff Bezos (44, Amazon). Tech venture capitalist John Doerr, of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers earlier this week at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco, floated the names of Bill Joy, 54, a Kleiner-Perkins colleague  and the former chief scientist of Sun Microsystems, as well as Danny Hillis, 52, chairman and CEO of the tech research and development company Applied Minds, Inc., in Glendale, Calif., and former vice president of research and development at Walt Disney Imagineering.

(Image courtesy of iStockphoto; Copyright: Ann Steer)

4 Comments

1. 1. jh443 06:38 PM 11/7/08

   "Improving cyber security" Just what exactly is meant by that? Security for whom? NATIONAL security, for example? Will the examination of the data stream be intensified in order to save us from potential terrorists? Or, perhaps, the financial security of software companies. Passing laws that allow search warrants to be issued with even less evidence required?
   
   To paraphrase a saying: Those who sacrifice freedom for security neither achieve nor deserve either.

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2. 2. jothar73 10:33 PM 11/7/08

   Improving 'cyber security' doesn't necessarily mean the removal of freedoms.
   
   For example the 'hardening' of government computer systems, networks and software to defend against foreign (or domestic) hacks will not limit freedoms. Foreign hacks are widely known as fact and there have been numerous reports of Chinese based hackers breaching white house and pentagon networks. (a quick Google will yield a number of stories, several inaccurate, but many true) I have no doubt that many governments, the united state's included, are actively performing 'cyber espionage' - it is just a reality of our world and it is something that we should be prepared for.
   
   Other ways to 'improve' security include proper funding and management. A while back there was a story of a San Francisco network admin going 'rogue' - whether or not he was in the 'right' is not the point here, but the fact that a single man could easily yield so much power without a series of checks and balances is frightening. I do not recall all of the details of the story, but it seems pretty clear that there was a major problem, one that should have been avoided. Likely this is the tip of the iceberg here and there are probably a number of government systems that are vulnerable in similar ways.
   
   Other items for this new position could include the introduction and proper use of technology to spur efficiency and progress. Public school systems need a technology upgrade as do a number of our transportation systems. I for one am excited to see where this could go.
   
   (side note - check out your current ISP - a number have hinted at rolling out content filtering - sometimes based on subject content, other times based on whether or not it is a streaming video from a 'bad' source, other times based on 'excessive' bandwidth usage)

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3. 3. J IX 05:03 PM 11/8/08

   One of the more important things to observe in this whole topic is not 'What' they plan to do (I.E. improve cyber security) but Who* is going to lead the plan and How* that person intends to do it because everyone has a slightly different viewpoint on what privacy is and how to protect it.
   
   A good example of this is crime control. There are a number of U.S. citizens who believe that the only way to stop crime is for the government to observe and dictate the population, to be in total control, citizens and otherwise. Then there are people who believe that the way to stop or slow crime is to campaign to the public about public responsibility and self governence of their communities. Both methods work in theory, regardless of righteousness or ideology, but they go about it two opposite ways. So, the big question here is what do the advisors obama surrounds himself with believe in? The answer to that will provide insights into obamas true intentions, as he will not likely** appoint people who disagree with him. Although there is no better way to know your right than to hear your oppositions logic in debate.

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4. 4. Neil_Polymathes 12:51 AM 11/10/08

   What we need is a Chief Information Officer (CIO)with an advisory council/comity/ cabinet/board. You need a CTO for advice on what to fund or "imagine". #1 You need a CIO on how to manage what you have.

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