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.
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