An Agenda for Obama's CTO

President-elect Barack Obama has promised to appoint the world's first governmental Chief Technology Officer (CTO). On its transition Web site, www.change.gov, the incoming Administration has published a list of goals for the soon-to-be anointed CTO: broadband expansion, boosting science/tech education, health-care computerization, patent reform, and e-government.

The goals are well-intentioned. What is missing is an effective and efficient strategy. So-called "czars" have been appointed for drugs, the war in Iraq, the financial industry, and the auto sector—none of them have worked very well. The Obama team needs to be careful not to reinvent the wheel, focusing instead on technology lessons from the countries that have overtaken the U.S. already, the practices of companies that have top CTOs, and a flexible strategy for implementing policy across the sprawling federal government.