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Obama’s Chief Technology Officer and the X-Files
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Astronaut with Propulsion Backpack. Photo: NASA
Technology enthusiasts were among Barack Obama’s biggest supporters during his Presidential campaign and were rewarded by his pledge to appoint a cabinet level, national Chief Technology Officer (CTO) when elected. According Obama’s campaign webpage, a CTO would be responsible for technological innovation “to ensure that our government and all its agencies have the right infrastructure, policies and services for the 21st century.” Obama’s first Presidential actions indicate that he intends to give his CTO broad powers that will challenge many vested interests over the extent to which technology is declassified and shared with the public sector. This makes Obama’s CTO a key figure in accessing and sharing technologies buried in government and corporate X-Files.
During his first full day in office, Obama not only signaled that he was committed to create a CTO for technological innovation, but also the importance of such a position for promoting Open Government in his administration. In his Memorandum on Open Government and Transparency, Obama declared:
I direct the Chief Technology Officer … to coordinate the development by appropriate executive departments and agencies, within 120 days, of recommendations for an Open Government Directive, to be issued by the Director of OMB, that instructs executive departments and agencies to take specific actions implementing the principles set forth in this memorandum.
Obama’s Memorandum reveals that the CTO will be responsible for ensuring that all branches of government are committed to implementing principles of Open Government and transparency. By making his CTO responsible for coordinating the development and subsequent implementation of a Directive on Open Government, President Obama has ensured that technological innovation will be used to achieve Open Government. The contrast couldn’t be greater with the Bush administration which used technological innovation for enhanced surveillance of private citizens, and promoting greater government secrecy.
Obama’s Memorandum stated that the CTO has 120 days to ensure that government agencies participate in giving recommendations for an Open Government Directive. The Directive would instruct government agencies and executive departments to implement principles of Open Government and transparency. The surprising fact here is that Obama has still not named his candidate for CTO though two individuals are on his short list.
Most importantly, the U.S. Congress has yet to draft a bill for a CTO. The CTO’s key role in his January 21 Memorandum, however, signals Obama’s intent to create the powers and responsibilities of the nation’s first CTO by Presidential Executive Order. Several issues will quickly emerge for the CTO in promoting technological innovation to take U.S. government and society into the 21st century, while simultaneously promoting principles of Open Government and transparency.
The first will be how to deal with classified technologies contained in the X-Files of different government agencies and military departments that could produce the kind of technological innovation sought by a national CTO. Obama’s CTO will require need-to-know access to classified technologies. In many cases, these lie hidden in heavily compartmentalized Special Access Programs in various military departments, and their equivalents in other government agencies. Ben Rich, former Head of Lockheed Skunk Works explained the situation best:
We already have the means to travel among the stars, but these technologies are locked up in black projects and it would take an act of God to ever get them out to benefit humanity... anything you can imagine we already know how to do.
A second issue will be how to deal with corporations that have been given classified technologies from government and military X-files that have been subsequently re-categorized as trade secrets. Government and military entities regularly use private contractors for classified projects and hand over information and technology for research and development purposes. These then become trade secrets that are very difficult for any government agency or military department to gain access.
Video: Nick Cook from Jane's Defense Weekly interviews retired Lockheed Martin scientist about antigravity
Finally, how will the CTO deal with vested interest groups opposed to releasing classified technologies that can lead to rapid innovations in industries such as transportation and health? Powerful interest groups have benefited from preventing the commercial development of, for example, antigravity technologies that have only been used in classified military projects such as the B-2 bomber.
The ultimate success of a national CTO in promoting technological innovation in U.S. government and society rests on how well principles of Open Government and transparency are implemented. This will require that a cabinet level CTO gains “need-to-know” access to government and corporate X-Files. President Obama in his anticipated Executive Order for the creation of Chief Technology Officer needs to give “need-to-know” access to any and all government-military-corporate projects.
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