Google Goes to Washington -- Again

If ever there were doubts about Google ruling the world (or at least parts of it), a recent addition to President Obama's technology focused staff might settle some uncertainty.

The Defense Department last week announced the appointment of Sumit Agarwal as deputy assistant secretary of defense for outreach and social media in the Office of the

Assistant Secretary of Defense Public Affairs. Agarwal served as Google's head of mobile product management for North America.

But Agarwal is just the latest in a slew of Googlers to move to Washington.

• Katie Stanton joined the administration last year as director of citizen participation after serving as a project manager for Yahoo and working in new business development at Google.
• Sonal Shah, director of the White House Office of Social Innovation, previously was head of global development for Google.org, the company's philanthropy arm.
• Deputy Chief Technology Officer Andrew McLaughlin is the former head of Google's global public policy and governmental affairs.
• Finally, Eric Schmidt, Google's chairman and chief executive officer, sits on the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, a group that makes policy recommendations related to science and innovation.

Perhaps these recent West Coast transplants will help light an entrepreneurial fire under the administration's tech initiatives. In a recent interview with Federal Computer Week, Stanton put to rest concerns that her Silicon Valley work ethic would become "Washington-ized" (read: slow).

"We have buy-in at the very top, President Obama," she said. "I'm sure there will be frustrations, but there are also a lot of rules in place for good reasons. There are things that government has to do that the private sector doesn't, so you just have to understand what those rules are and work with them."