The United States needs to act swiftly and sufficiently under an Obama presidency to secure the government's technology infrastructure and to re-establish America's standing as a leader in technology advancements, according to Christopher Bronk, a fellow in technology, society and public policy at Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy.
"The sad reality is that the United States has fallen behind in the race for the next great technology discovery," Bronk said. "India, China and a host of other countries are investing a lot of capital in technology research. I wouldn't be surprised if the next IBM, Microsoft or Google comes out of China."
He also warned that the United States is unprepared in computer security. Bronk said, "Our infrastructure from the top down is broken, putting America at risk for a major cyber attack and data breaches. With leadership on this issue, we can mitigate many of the problems and serve as a model for the world.
"The government needs to go back to what it does best: invest internally on IT issues with human capital and work with academia and industry on crafting solutions rather than blindly outsourcing decisions and management that should be kept in government," Bronk said.
He said the failure to increase funding at the National Science Foundation and the relative decline in corporate research and development is mostly to blame. "Whether it's creating that next great technology or keeping America's people, businesses and government safe, I would encourage President-elect Obama to not forget what government does do well: Protect us. Whether that is in the field of combat or in cyberspace, if we're going to fight a war, it needs to be funded appropriately."
On a side note, Bronk said that reports citing security concerns of Obama using a personal phone device for personal e-mail is unwarranted. "There are ways to keep the president-elect's mobile device secure for e-mail and other uses. I understand the concern of those e-mails being made a public document, but don't lay blame on security."
Christopher Bronk:
Bronk is the Baker Institute fellow in technology, society and public policy. He previously served as a career diplomat with the United States Department of State on assignments both overseas and in Washington. His last assignment was in the Office of eDiplomacy, the department's internal think tank on information technology, knowledge management, computer security and interagency collaboration. He also has experience in political affairs, counternarcotics, immigration and U.S. -- Mexico border issues. Since arriving at Rice, Bronk has divided his attention among a number of areas, including information security, technology for immigration management, broadband policy, Web 2.0 governance and the militarization of cyberspace. He teaches classes on the intersection of computing and politics in Rice's George R. Brown School of Engineering.
Bronk has provided commentary for a variety of news outlets, including ABC, NPR, the BBC and the Houston Chronicle. His latest research involves the political informatics of transnational terror. Bronk has a Ph.D. from the Maxwell School of Syracuse University and a bachelor's degree from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He also studied international relations at Oxford University.