Trump Calls for Transformation of Government Tech

President Trump called for a “sweeping transformation of the federal government’s technology” at the inaugural meeting of the White House’s American Technology Council on Monday.

At the meeting—attended by top executives from Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and other Silicon Valley giants—Trump said the federal government has to “catch up” with the private sector and deliver “dramatically better services to citizens,” while buying cheaper, more efficient technology and adopting “stronger protections from cyber-attacks,” according to a report on the technology website Recode.

Highlights of the meeting included…

• A broad mandate for the federal government to, among other things, convert paper-based forms into easy-to-use websites, buy better technology, and take advantage of new technology like artificial intelligence.

• Palantir CEO Alex Karp offering to help the government use big data to spot fraudulent federal spending.

• Apple CEO Tim Cook calling on Washington to make computer coding a requirement in schools.

• Trump advisor Jared Kushner telling the group that federal agencies maintain more than 6,000 costly data centers, which creates a huge taxpayer burden and makes it difficult for former servicemen and women to obtain their electronic health records, among other things.

• Trump telling the group he wanted to help Silicon Valley “get the people you want,” without providing specifics, in response to a call for high-skilled immigrants.

The White House will convene another tech summit to discuss “emerging” technologies on Thursday. FAA officials and drone manufacturers are expected discuss the regulatory and safety challenges facing that industry and FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and tech industry leaders will be on hand to offer insights on 5G wireless technologies and the Internet of Things.

Read Recode’s full report here.

Watch President Trump’s opening remarks:

COMMENTS
jnemesh's picture

Cheeto will be gone in a month or two anyway.

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