A Lesson from Al Gore to Obama?

Regardless of your party affiliation, it's hard to deny that President Obama has raised the profile of information technology and cybersecurity issues significantly since taking office. Along with appointing the nation's first chief information and chief technology officers, Obama has personally delivered a major speech on cybersecurity and promised to deliver unprecedented transparency via the publishing of government data online.

But contrary to popular belief, Obama is not the first high-profile politician to take a keen interest in IT. Forrester senior analyst James Kobielus mentioned today in a meeting with Nextgov that he was summoned to Capitol Hill not once but twice in the early 1990s by Al Gore -- once when Gore was still in the Senate and another time after he had become vice president. On his personal blog, Kobielus provided some evidence for Gore's infamous televised claim that he "took the initiative in creating the Internet."

As U.S. senator in spring 1991, he spearheaded the passage of a bill to fund the National Research and Education Network (NREN), which was a bridge project that sought to transform the R&D-focused Arpanet into the commercialized Internet. Gore's legislation had the desired catalyst effect. I distinctly recall 10 a.m., June 5, 1991, in room H-137 of the U.S. Capitol Building -- when Sen. Gore and three other legislators took the initiative to stimulate the development of the commercial Internet. I was there, in attendance when they announced the legislation, and spoke to the then-senator, who was the acknowledged leader in pushing for this initiative. Let the record note. I still have my notes.

Kobielus told me Gore first summoned him to discuss IT after reading one of his columns for NetworkWorld. While I'd like to think that Obama and Vice President Joe Biden are regular readers of Nextgov, the possibility they would invite me to chat after reading an article seems rather remote.

But should it be? After all, it's documented that the administration regularly meets with prominent journalists and columnists to discuss the issues on and off the record. So how about arranging a sit-down with some of the best thinkers and writers on federal IT? I'm sure a discussion with IT reporters and editors could provide a valuable exchange. I'm also pretty sure that none of them would turn down an invitation to the White House, but then who would these days?