Obama to appoint US chief technology officer

Barack Obama will appoint someone from the IT industry to act as America's CTO

President elect Barack Obama has confirmed that he will create a post of US chief technology officer to oversee the nation's hi-tech future.

As promised during the campaign the new administration will appoint someone from the IT industry to ensure that electronic systems used by the government are intelligently designed and run, and that the proper policies are enforced.

"Obama will appoint the nation's first CTO to ensure that our government and all its agencies have the right infrastructure, policies and services for the 21st century," said the campaign.

"The CTO will ensure the safety of our networks and will lead an inter-agency effort, working with chief technology and chief information officers at each of the federal agencies, to ensure that they use best-in-class technologies and share best practices."

Several names have already been mooted for the job, including former Microsoft chairman Bill Gates and Google chief internet evangelist Vint Cerf, but one of the front runners, Google chief executive Eric Schmidt, has already taken himself out of the running.

"I am extremely happy serving the shareholders of Google as the CEO, so I have no interest in serving as a government employee," he told The New York Times.

Schmidt spoke out publically in support of Obama during the campaign, and is part of the economic team in place to oversee the transition of power.

One of the first priorities of the new post will be to implement a nationwide interoperable wireless network for local, state and federal first responders, as recommended by the 9/11 Commission.

ANALYSIS: What will Obama mean for IT?