TriGeoSphere

I applaud President Obama’s decision to expand the cabinet and surround himself with experts, but I think a CSO might have been a better choice…

If the headlines are any indication, the government can use a little help in the network and data security department, and I’d like to see it held to the same standards that it imposes on the nation’s public corporations and financial institutions.

The fact remains that the hunt for the nation’s first CTO has begun. There’s no shortage of names being considered, nor tasks that this superhero should be asked to perform. A visit to www.obamacto.org is a revealing and somewhat frightening look into the technical psyche of thousands of people who are suggesting and voting on hundreds of proposals. Given the disparate backgrounds, interests, and political affiliations, it’s no surprise that the suggestions include topics like Broadband Everywhere, Mass Transit, Space Mining and the very popular Open Government Data.

If we view the role of CTO as a technical visionary, then there may be an opportunity for the CTO to have a hand in many of these proposals. All we’ll need now is one of those “no strings” checks for a few hundred billion and we can have some serious fun.

Oh sorry, wrong department…

Assuming nothing is changing on the technology funding front, this new CTO may find that execution will be one of the biggest challenges faced.

My advice is simple: Imagine that the government is a business. (Yes, I realize that requires some serious imagination…)

Imagine that the government has products for sale and we’re the consumers. In a major corporation, the CTO would be looking for opportunities to utilize technology to give the company a strategic advantage by improving productivity and cutting costs. I can only hope that the person that gets this job can approach it with these pragmatic goals in mind. Before it gets any bigger, let’s hope the new CTO is up to the challenge of revitalizing the core infrastructure. Many US technology companies and employees would benefit and it could help provide economic stimulus to a critical sector.