The next article is straight from Business Week.....

The Short List for U.S. Chief Technology Officer

Barack Obama has pledged to name a cabinet-level CTO to oversee a job-creating national broadband buildout if he's elected. Big names abound

By Tom Lowry

Barack Obama says that the U.S. is not doing nearly enough to create jobs through technology. Shortly after he launched his campaign, the Illinois Senator promised that if elected, he would create the first-ever Cabinet-level post of chief technology officer. The economic crisis has since made it certain that a White House CTO would become one of Obama's most important advisers, should he triumph in November. "Obama sees greater broadband penetration as an enormous economic engine, much like the railroads were a century ago," says Andrew D. Lipman, a veteran communications lawyer in Washington. "That is why the CTO will play such a critical role in any recovery plan."

Among the candidates who would be considered for the job, say Washington insiders, are Vint Cerf, Google's (GOOG) "chief internet evangelist," who is often cited as one of the fathers of the Internet; Microsoft (MSFT) chief executive officer Steve Ballmer; Amazon (AMZN) CEO Jeffrey Bezos; and Ed Felten, a prominent professor of computer science and public affairs at Princeton University. An Obama campaign spokesman did not return phone calls seeking comment about potential CTO candidates.

Obama—who has effectively used the Internet and social networks throughout his campaign to raise funds, engage voters, and put forward policy positions—has long criticized the Bush administration for not doing more to increase broadband penetration in the U.S., particularly in rural areas. The country ranked 15th among industrial nations in penetration, with a mere 23 out of 100 Americans having access to broadband service, according to a report released earlier this year by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

A White House CTO would be expected to help create incentive programs to expand broadband's reach, particularly tax credits for smaller carriers. But the tech czar would almost certainly be deeply involved in overseeing a federally-backed $50 billion venture capital fund that Obama has proposed to develop more environmentally friendly technology.

CTO vs. FCC?

What is less clear is how a CTO would interact with the Federal Communications Commission. While the FCC chairman does not belong to the Cabinet, the person filling that role has traditionally been a leading voice on issues of media, telecommunications, and technology. It is widely expected that President Bush's appointed FCC chair, Kevin Martin, would step down if Obama were elected. Sources say Obama might then consider appointing his former Harvard Law School classmate and current campaign adviser, Julius Genachowski, to the chairman's post. A former adviser to FCC chairs Reed Hundt and Bill Kennard, Genachowski won plaudits for his work as top executive at Barry Diller's IAC/InterActiveCorp (IACI). More recently, Genachowski has been running his own venture capital firm, Rock Creek Ventures.

To read the entire article.....

The Short List for U.S. Chief Technology Officer

Barack Obama has done a wonderful job of tapping into social networks for his campaign. To put it in perspective. I just checked my Digg account. One of the Social Networks I use. Today is October 20, 2008. The Last time John McCain used his digg account was August 29, 2008. Barack Obama checked his Digg account November 19th, 1 day ago. Its clear that Barack Obama is more in tune with the Internet or at least his staff his.

I love the idea of a presidential Cabinet position of a Chief Technology Officer. I think it’s long overdue. To quote the Business Week Article " The economic crisis has since made it certain that a White House CTO would become one of Obama's most important advisers, should he triumph in November.".

Given the importance of technology in the United States Economy, I think a presidential cabinet post of Chief Technology Officer is long overdue. I am not crazy about the initial focus for this position. Based upon the business week comments.

    * Barack Obama says that the U.S. is not doing nearly enough to create jobs through technology.
    * "Obama sees greater broadband penetration as an enormous economic engine, much like the railroads were a century ago," says Andrew D. Lipman, a veteran communications lawyer in Washington. "That is why the CTO will play such a critical role in any recovery plan."

I do not see that as the issue today and I hope this is just political rhetoric to make people feel good. We are well on our way in this country to building greater broadband penetration. Every time I turn around the Internet capability is being doubled around me. That may not be the case in Rural America, but every major city I have traveled to, has no shortage of broadband penetration and it just keeps getting better and better. I think the railroad is already here. We just keep updating it.

The key is to make sure we keep our competitive edge with Technology. For example of greater concern for me is the shortage of students entering STEM Fields. STEM = Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics. In the United State we have less kids every year entering these fields. This is a national problem of critical importance. We need these skills if we are to stay competitive. We can have the greatest technology infrastructure in the world, but if no one is here who knows how to use it to give us a competitive advantage, what good will it be.

Its great that we have this wonderful Service industry in the U.S. but the next great invention that changes our lives will come from the STEM fields, not the service industry.
In Massachusetts I am a member of the Robert H. Goddard Council on Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics. 

We are trying to understand why kids no longer pursue STEM fields.  Today we do graduate enough students in the STEM fields to meet our needs as a Nation. Think of the long term National Security issues, think of the long term issue to our ability to compete in the global economy.

To make the matter worse, we are tightening down our ability to bring people from outside the U.S.  who have these skills and more importantly let them live and work in the U.S.  These policies are forcing many U.S. companies to build technology centers outside the U.S. since they cant get the skills they need here in the United States.

I commend Barack Obama for creating A Cabinet position of Chief Technology Officer. If he gets elected, lets hope we get past the political rhetoric and let this new CTO work on the real issues. Making sure we leverage technology to keep the U.S. competitive and that we have an advocate who understands that long term the U.S. needs the next generate of kids to enter the Stem fields, graduate and find jobs in the U.S.

Posted Michael Corey, Ntirety

www.ntirety.com