Is there any chance that Health and Human Services secretary Mike Leavitt could become the Obama administration's chief technology officer? Blogger Phil Windley says no -- but thinks Leavitt would be a great choice anyway.
On his blog, Technometria, Windley makes a brief case for Leavitt: "He understands technology very well and relates it well to policy. He’d be an able spokesman. I can imagine no one better," Windley wrote. But ... Leavitt is a Republican. So completely Republican, in fact, that he could end up becoming chairman of the Republican National Committee.
(Given that Obama has expressed a willingness to cross party lines in filling his cabinet, we're not convinced that that's a deal-breaker ... but Windley seems to be.)
Windley, himself CTO at e-commerce company Kynetx, has some thoughts on what the federal CTO's role should entail.
To be qualified, you need to (1) pass the ethics tests, (2) understand how technology relates to government and the public in a wide range of areas, and (3) be a policy wonk. Items (1) and (3) disqualify most of the people who’ve been suggested.
Actually, (2) may disqualify most of the people who have been suggested too. We're not sure how someone who hasn't been in government or at least very closely connected to government for some years can meet that criterion.
Posted on Nov 18, 2008 at 12:12 PM0 comments
Two of the federal government's leading lights have landed at Deloitte. Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.) is taking a high-level consulting role there and Tim Young, former Office of Management and Budget deputy administrator, will start there in January.
Davis was a leader on procurement reform issues when he served as chairman of the Government Reform Committee. He lost some of his influence when the Democrats took majority status in 2006, and chose to retire from politics this year.
Young has been an OMB leader on e-Gov efforts, working closely with Karen Evans there to propel the initiatives forward.
Deloitte did well in landing the two.
Posted by Michael Hardy on Nov 18, 2008 at 12:12 PM0 comments
We have no idea who president-elect Barack Obama is considering to fill the new federal chief technology officer role that he has pledged to create.
We do know that Dan Chenok, former branch chief for information policy and technology in the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), had to withdraw suddenly from an upcoming seminar for reasons he couldn't disclose. Some sources tell us he's been asked to stay out of the public eye for now.
Chenok, now senior vice president and general manager of Pragmatics, could not be reached for comment. Actually, he is probably not a likely CTO pick, with his policy background. But generally, when affable and talkative former federal officials suddenly need to stay quiet for a bit right as a new president is moving into the Oval Office, there's a reason that goes beyond sudden shyness.
Posted by Michael Hardy on Nov 17, 2008 at 12:12 PM0 comments
Colin Clark, writing on the blog DOD Buzz, drops a few possible names to head President-elect Barack Obama¹s intelligence team.
Rep. Tim Roemer (D-Ind.), leads Clark's list. Roemer co-sponsored legislation that created the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States, known as the 9/11 Commission, and co-chaired the commission.
Another possibility: Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif), chairwoman of the House Homeland Security subcommittee on intelligence, information sharing and terrorism risk assessment.
One more: Christopher Tucker, senior vice president for national programs at erdas. Tucker was the founding chief strategic officer at In-Q-Tel, the CIA¹s venture capital fund and is a board member of the U.S. Geospatial Intelligence Foundation.
Posted by Michael Hardy on Nov 17, 2008 at 12:12 PM0 comments