Where Has The Love Gone?
     The lasting uneasiness with the administration's focus is perhaps based in part on the fact that the majority of the White House's energy is now being used to elect Vice President Al Gore as Clinton's successor. It also may be traced to the frustration of having to deal with dozens of administration officials on high tech issues, rather than just one high-profile figure that the diverse and often fractured high-tech industry could go to and air their concerns.
     Many in the high-tech community praise the administration's current staff, particularly Gore's domestic policy adviser David Beier and Commerce's e-commerce adviser Eliot Maxwell who were asked to step into Magaziner's shoes, for their leadership efforts on facilitating the administration's high-tech agenda. But some said they would prefer that the White House appoint another Magaziner-type figure who has the ear of the president and also the substantive understanding of the needs of the industry.
     Industry representatives said any appointment of a high-tech "czar" for the current administration wouldn't be able to accomplish much this late in Clinton's term. But the next administration could name a person to continue to ensure that federal and international regulators stay away from the Internet, while also staying attuned to the few things government can do to facilitate e-commerce: trade agreements, ensuring a fair and competitive market and addressing educational needs for the Internet world.
     "Encryption, privacy, broadband, digital signatures are all being treated as separate issues and no one is putting it all together and saying…what does e-commerce look like?" said Dan Burton, vice president of government relations for Novell. "I am not sure that anyone is looking at the big picture…and it would probably be helpful to have a high-tech point person because Ira developed a framework that was helpful and has served us well, but there will probably come a time when we will have to revisit it."

Would Tech Czar Help?
     For former Rep. Rick White, R-WA, now a high-tech attorney in Seattle for Perkins Coie, a high-tech czar in the administration would be most useful to make sure the government doesn't unduly regulate technology.
     "There is no question that every administration needs a voice for technology," he said. "But what kind of voice it is depends on how the next president sees the role of government. My own view is that the main challenge for any administration when it comes to technology is to restrain the natural impulse of government to regulate and control it. A single person who is the 'czar' can play that role effectively if he or she is close to the president."
     At the same time, others in the industry fear having one high-tech policy-maker in the White House could do more harm than good, especially if that person became too political. In addition, despite some of the complaints that there was a decline in momentum and focus at the White House, those people feel that a diffuse government process works to their advantage in that it keeps any undue regulations from being imposed on the Internet.
     "There is enough of an understanding of high-tech that there doesn't need to be a catalyzing person (in the White House). What you need is a good understanding of what is driving the economy and what this industry is about and I believe that already exists" within the current administration structure, said David Byer, vice president of government affairs at the Software & Information Industry Association.

A High-Tech Guru In 2000?
     But to Greg Simon, president of Simon Strategies, calls for a high-tech White House guru are a thing of the past. Simon, onetime domestic policy adviser to Gore and current high-tech adviser to the Gore campaign, said the Clinton Administration crafted the first framework outlining the rules of the road on the Internet, and now dozens of administration staff are needed to handle the issues
     "It is like parallel computing. The idea of a single processor is old…those who say we need a tech czar are looking through the review mirror," Simon said. "Internet policy is now spread out…you have the Commerce Department working on the digital divide, you have the Federal Communications Commission looking at new technologies, you have Gore trying to boost the research and development tax budget."
     Simon and the Gore campaign declined to comment on whether Gore would have a high-tech guru, but an administration source said the industry could be certain that if Gore became president, high-tech would be a high-priority in his administration. Gore's primary Republican opponent, Texas Governor George W. Bush, has been considering the idea of a high-tech point person, but is more likely to look at the option of having a high-tech advisery group that could advise him on e-commerce issues.
     The Clinton Administration has several high-tech advisery groups including the President's Information Technology advisery Committee and the President's Committee of advisers on Science and Technology, but their focus has been on research and development issues.
     "The good news is that the top candidates are absolutely clear-eyed in terms of the fact that we are in a new age," said Rhett Dawson, president of the Information Industry Technology Council.
     Former Senator Bill Bradley, D-NJ, who is Gore's Democrat presidential nomination rival, has made use of the Internet to raise $770,000 for his campaign but has yet to define where he stands on high-tech policy. Campaign officials also didn't return phone calls requesting comment on his high-tech policy.

- by Bara Vaida