More on the CTO

It's looking more as if the chief technology officer whom Barack Obama says he plans to appoint will be more involved in technology policy and public outreach than government operations. The first indication came from a Nextgov interview with Microsoft's newly appointed chief transition officer, Carolyn Brubaker, who said "it seems like the CTO would really focus on citizen engagement and participation in government."

Then, Google's chief Internet evangelist Vint Cerf told National Journal in a recent interview that the CTO's top agenda items would include weighing in on energy savings, economic recovery and infrastructure policy. Cerf said, however, the CTO "would probably walk in and step on about a thousand CIO toes -- the chief information officers scattered around various parts of the executive branch," implying the tech officer would issue policies on government operations and, presumably, procurement.