The Channel Wire

February 12, 2009

Despite speculation in recent weeks that President Obama's appointment of the first national CTO had lost some of its luster, with many saying the position was going to have less impact, let alone power, than previously thought, the president has amended an executive order laying out, perhaps, more details of what the CTO job will entail.

Federal News Radio 1500 AM reported Wednesday that the president had amended Executive Order 12859, removing the position of AIDS Policy Coordinator and replacing it with Assistant to the President and Chief Technology Officer. The wording of the title seems to suggest whatever the CTO's other functions, he or she will have the ear of the president.

In late January, the U.S. Congressional Research Service submitted a report on the CTO position entitled A Federal Chief Technology Officer in the Obama Administration: Options and Issues for Consideration that was later posted to the Web by the Federation of American Scientists.

"A CTO is likely to face a variety of challenges in executing the mission envisioned by the President," the report reads. "Among the early challenges will be negotiating domains of responsibilities, formal and informal, within the White House (if that is where President Obama or Congress decides to establish a CTO) and with executive branch agencies that have overlapping missions."

The report collects some of the broader general opinion on what the CTO's role could and should be, including traditional CTO and CIO functions, and having a technology evangelist in the president's inner circle.

Last week, the president named Washington, D.C., CIO Vivek Kundra -- for weeks one of the hotly rumored names for the national CTO slot -- administrator for e-government and information technology in the Office of Budget and Management. Both Cisco CTO Padmasree Warrior and Virginia Secretary of Technology Aneesh Chopra continue to be mentioned as potential appointees.

In an interview Wednesday with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Technology Review, Warrior said she couldn't comment on speculation that she would be the first national CTO. But she did suggest some priorities.

"In terms of the top areas of focus, the first is to work on e-government initiatives, allowing government to be more efficient and open," Warrior said. "The second area is to leverage innovation to boost the economy. The third area being talked about is cybersecurity. If you look at President Obama's agenda for technology and the importance he feels it has in terms of putting the United States back as a technology leader -- and leveraging technology to boost the economy -- the CTO can have a huge impact on the agenda."