Monday, December 29, 2008

Microsoft 'CTO' Discusses Obama's CTO

From NationalJournal.com's Lost in Transition blog:

As a new, tech-savvy president prepares to take the reins in Washington, federal IT contractors are positioning themselves to be a part of the action. Microsoft Federal, for instance, has established the temporary post of "chief transition officer" to help the company forge a working relationship with the incoming administration.

Nextgov's Allan Holmes spoke recently with Microsoft's new "CTO," Carolyn Brubaker, about what this new position entails -- and about the potential role of President-elect Obama's yet-to-be-named chief technology officer.

Nextgov: What have you heard about what the role of the chief technology officer might be?

Brubaker: We're not quite sure what that's going to look like now, but from some of the information we are getting it looks like it's going to be an external adviser, someone who's really advising on national technology issues, with the primary goal of citizen outreach and engagement. That's a big objective of President-elect Obama's.

They have an intense group of leaders who are looking at technology. We have received some inquiries, and from what I can tell they're just not only looking at technology, they're looking at reforming the process.

Nextgov: Are you saying the CTO will be more involved in using social networking technologies to engage the public rather than getting into the weeds of government to use IT to improve operations?

Brubaker: From some of the thoughts that have been shared [with us], it seems like that's probably the way it will be shaped. The CTO would really focus on citizen engagement and participation in government. I speculate that there will be a fairly structured group [in the Office of Management and Budget] that's really going to pay close attention to the inner workings of government and use technology to guide that. The CTO will really have more of a national perspective on goals.

The full interview is available at Nextgov. Lost In Transition has previously discussed the new CTO position with Craigslist founder Craig Newmark and Google's Vinton Cerf.