Obama to appoint US chief technology officer

As promised during the campaign the new administration will appoint someone from the technology industry to ensure that the electronic systems government uses are being intelligently designed and run and the technology policies are adhered to.

“Obama will appoint the nation’s first Chief Technology Officer (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 interagency effort, working with chief technology and chief information officers of 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 Bill Gates and Vint Cerf but one of the front runners, Google’s Eric Schmidt, has already taken himself out of the running.

“I am extremely happy serving the shareholders of Google as the C.E.O., so I have no interest in serving as a government employee,” he told the New York Times in an interview.

Schmidt spoke out publically in support of Obama during the campaign and is part of the economic team that he has 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 but which has still not been built.

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