President Trump creates modernization-focused American Technology Council
The White House established Monday the American Technology Council — a group of Cabinet members and other senior-level officials and technology leaders designated by the president to drive the vision for federal digital services and IT.
The 19-member council, created by an executive order, is chaired by President Donald Trump and otherwise led by a full-time director, “who shall be an employee of the Executive Office of the President designated by the President.”
The director role will reportedly be held by Chris Liddell, the White House director of strategic initiatives, according to Axios.
In addition to helping coordinate the administration’s “vision, strategy, and direction” for federal IT, the ATC will serve as an advisory unit for the president “related to policy decisions and processes regarding the Federal Government’s use of information technology and the delivery of services through information technology,” the order says.
The order makes no mention of Trump’s recently launched Office of American Innovation, which will similarly focus on issues such as federal technology modernization and technology procurement. Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, leads the OAI and will serve as a member of the ATC.
The council will also be comprised of the vice president; the secretaries of Defense, Commerce and Homeland Security; the directors of National Intelligence, the Office of Management and Budget, and the Office of Science and Technology Policy; the yet-to-be-named U.S. CIO and U.S. CTO; the administrators of the General Services Administration and the U.S. Digital Service; the commissioner of the Technology Transformation Service; and the assistant to the president for intragovernmental and technology initiatives, among others.
Additionally, the director and the president can invite other agency and service heads to meet with the council “on a rotating basis.”
The council will also invite leading tech industry executives to the White House in early June to pick their brains on how the federal government can better modernize its digital services, Axios reported.
Trump’s creation of the council comes just days after lawmakers in the House reintroduced legislation to help agencies spend the money they save through technology on continuing to modernize their technology infrastructure.
