Although the CTO position is still rather loosely defined, Cerf, the former chairman of Internet regulatory board ICANN who is known by many as the “father of the Internet,” says today’s economy will provide not only considerable challenges for the new CTO, but also a number of possibilities.
“I think it’s hard,” Cerf said, “but I also think that this is an amazing opportunity, given our current economic situation. I see just a very elaborate range of things that a CTO, by any definition, might be able to do in order to improve our efficient use of resources in the government.”
Cerf adds that many of these potential contributions can come from “the IT side of the equation.” Some of these include an improvement of the cyber-obscurity of applications both inside and outside the government, the consideration of the remote control of energy-consuming devices and the rejuvenation of the broadband infrastructure for businesses and consumers.
“If you had a way of shifting demand for energy from one time to another so as to reduce the peak loads at certain times of day or certain times of year,” Cerf said, “that could actually be a very powerful way of reducing the capital cost of generating electricity.”
Although Cerf’s consideration for the role is, “pure rumor and speculation,” according to him, he hopes the transition team outlines a thorough job description that “takes advantage of this moment, when the possibilities are so rich, to make a difference.”