US CTO Nominee on Open Government: No Comment
Aneesh Chopra, President Obama's nominee as the US Government's first ever Chief Technology Officer, was asked very few hard questions in a confirmation hearing yesterday and none of the Senators asked him anything about Open Government. The President's memo calling for there to be a US CTO set a deadline of May 21st (tomorrow) for delivering suggestions regarding Open Government but Chopra told reporters he wouldn't comment on his likely suggestions because he hadn't been confirmed yet.
NextGov reported from the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee and said that Chopra only briefly alluded to the matter of Open Government in his initial testimony. That's very disappointing.
It's possible that none of the Senators felt qualified to ask questions about Open Government when it comes to technology; it's also possible that they are disinterested or don't truly believe that data transparency is in their best interests.
"No questions for Chopra...about the more contentious aspects of tech policy implementation," writes TechPresident, "Not a question on topics like the electric grid or patent reform or electronic health records -- the last of which was earmarked in the stimulus package for $20 billion in federal spending."
It was just two weeks ago that the Senate voting record became officially available in an accessible XML format, something that not all members of the Senate were excited about. In reference to that policy, John Wonderlich, policy director for the Sunlight Foundation, told a Politico reporter that "the secretary of the Senate has cited a general standing policy ... that they're not supposed to present votes in a comparative format, that senators have the right to present their votes however they want to...it's pretty bad."
We hope that Chopra brings good ideas regarding transparency of public data to the new office of CTO, but it's hard to know for sure if he's not asked about the matter in confirmation hearings. Vigorous debate is an important part of openness, but yesterday's non-event will instead be added to the list of departures from the new regime's promises of transparency.
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I don't think we'll really have open government in a representative democracy. Politicians will always want to cover their ass with red tape and obfuscation.
Posted by: samgrover
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May 20, 2009 9:46 AM
I'm not sure what a federal CTO would have to say about Congressional open govt. policy. beyond being politically dumb to talk about before being confirmed, the executive branch is not going to have jurisdiction over congressional policy.
therefore, the last sentence here ("yesterday's non-event will instead be added to the list of departures from the new regime's promises of transparency") doesn't make any sense. The Senate holds a confirmation hearing and sets all terms of it -- not the executive branch.
Sean, doesn't the Senate need to vet this nominee by asking him to articulate his positions on key topics of the day?
Yes, but that is up to the Senate -- not the nominee.
Your post makes it sound like you are taking a shot at Chopra and the "new regime" for not having an opinion on specific processes that they may not even have jurisdiction over.
As hard as it is for Silicon Valley peeps to internalize, there also is a process to all of this and government moves slow by design.
It also should be noted that the new CIO, Vivek Kundra, will have a greater focus on creating government efficiencies than Chopra. When the Chopra nomination was made, it was said that the CTO would place an emphasis on maximizing the value of technology on key sectors of the economy (health care, education, energy, etc).
:) thanks for your reply. Re the speed of things, it wasn't me that set the deadline for tomorrow! also, I'm not a Silicon Valley guy, I live in sleepy Portland Oregon, where we time things relative to the tumble weeds and covered wagons rolling into town from the praries to the east.
Thank you very mysterious, but you have to talk brothers are puzzling. :))
It is really a good news for Indian people and Asian people. Because It is really a good news that any Indian or Asian people appoint as CTO. Chopra's job will be to promote technological innovation to help the country meet its goals such as job creation, reducing health care costs, and protecting the homeland. Together with Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra, their jobs are to make the government more effective, efficient, and transparent.
I've heard Chopra speak and was really, really impressed, he seemed really genuinely engaged and I thought he had great ideas, I hope he does a lot of awesome things in his new job. It doesn't seem like it was for lack of effort that they got hacked. Hell, it could have been someone out to smear him. Anyway, hopefully it's a lesson learned and he will put an even bigger focus than he already had on security and policy in general about digital information. Anyway, give him a chance, I think you'll like him.
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