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The New Kids On The Block
President-elect George W. Bush is carefully crafting his administration but so far has named only a couple of appointees who will impact the technology community. He had announced his choices for several Cabinet positions, including Don Evans as Commerce secretary and Paul O'Neill as Treasury secretary, as of press time. But Bush is not expected to name heads of regulatory agencies that have oversight over high-tech issues until early in 2001.
Bush is filling Defense Department and national-security staff positions, as well as the remaining Cabinet secretary positions, before choosing high-tech staff positions, sources close to the transition said. As National Journal's Technology Daily learns of the official choices, this information will be updated.
Meanwhile, industry lobbyists have said the Bush administration's most profound impact on the high-tech industry likely will be who he chooses to head the Federal Communications Commission, the Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department's antitrust division — three of the agencies that have affected the Internet the most significantly since it became a commercial medium in 1995.
"Increasingly, a significant amount of Internet policy is being made through the back-door regulatory process," Adam Thierer, director of telecommunications studies at the Cato Institute said in emphasizing the importance of agency heads.
During the Clinton administration, the FCC oversaw the implementation of the Telecommunications Act under heavy GOP criticism, the Federal Trade Commission imposed new open-access regulations on America Online's merger with Time Warner, and the Justice Department successfully sued Microsoft.
FCC Chairman William Kennard, FTC Chairman Robert Pitofsky and Justice's Joel Klein were considered among the most activist of regulators in the administration. Most supporters of Bush expect him to name officials who will not follow in their footsteps; rather, they are expected to have a more laissez-faire approach to government, they say.
The FCC
For the FCC, industry lobbyists are betting that Bush will name current Commissioner Michael Powell, the son of Secretary of State-designate Colin Powell, as chairman. Michael Powell, one of two Republican commissioners at the five-member agency, has been a top candidate for the position for months, along with Texas Public Utilities Commission Chairman Pat Wood.
But insiders believe Wood is interested in other administration positions, and Powell has the inside track because he already sits on the FCC and would not have to regain Senate confirmation. "Powell is the best choice. He is clearly anti-regulatory," said one industry source.
Powell also enjoys broad support among key congressional Republicans and is a top choice of Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John McCain, R-AZ, and House Commerce Telecommunications, Trade and Consumer Protection Subcommittee Chairman Billy Tauzin, R-LA.
During his three years at the FCC, Powell has earned a reputation as a thoughtful and knowledgeable regulator whose mission was to reduce government regulation in the telecommunications marketplace. He has taken a special interest in modernizing the structure and philosophy of the FCC, which he believes is based on an antiquated model. Before coming to the agency, Powell was chief of staff in the Justice Department's antitrust division.
The FTC
At the FTC, speculation about the candidates has centered on three individuals: current commissioners Thomas Leary and Orson Swindle, and George Mason University law professor Timothy Muris.
FTC commissioners serve seven-year terms, and the next vacancy will not be until September, when Democrat Robert Pitofsky's term expires. The president has the power to name a chairman immediately upon inauguration, but Pitofsky said last week that he would not immediately resign as a commissioner, even if he were replaced as chairman.
If Pitofsky stays at the FTC, Bush would be expected to name Swindle or Leary — the agency's two Republican-selected commissioners — as either chairman or acting chairman. Muris, who may take an economic position within the White House, would have to wait until September for a seat to open.
Muris, who worked during the Reagan administration in both of the FTC's divisions — the Bureau of Consumer Protection and the Bureau of Competition — as well as at the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB), has been a member of Bush's economic policy team led by former Federal Reserve Board Governor Lawrence Lindsay.
Both Pitofsky and Swindle have dissented from the FTC's call for broad legislative authority to regulate online privacy. But Swindle was more vigorous in his dissent and scored the June report signed by Democratic appointees Pitofsky, Sheila Anthony and Mozelle Thompson. Leary is seen as more pragmatic and less ideological.
Swindle, who had a leading role in Ross Perot's 1992 independent presidential campaign, is the more senior of the two, having assumed his position in December 1997. But unlike Swindle, Leary is an attorney and has worked extensively in antitrust law and consumer protection. He took his seat in November 1999 and is scheduled to serve until September 2005.
Some people also have floated the name of Wendy Gramm, wife of Senate Banking Committee chairman Phil Gramm, R-TX, as a potential FTC chairwoman. Gramm, who was chairwoman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission between 1998 and 1993, has testified to Congress on how Congress often skirts its responsibilities by delegating too much authority to federal regulatory agencies.
During Ronald Reagan's presidency, Gramm also served as head of regulatory affairs in Reagan's OMB. Gramm's program at George Mason runs a Web site called RegWatch.com that tracks the implementation of regulations.
The Justice Department
Gramm's name also has been floated as a potential figure in the Justice Department's antitrust division. Those close to Bush expect that his administration likely will settle the government's case against Microsoft and not seek to split the company.
Little is known yet about who will be chosen to lead the antitrust division. Currently, several candidates are mentioned as a potential attorney general. They include Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating, R, outgoing Sen. John Ashcroft, R-MO, and former Sen. John Danforth, R-MO.
Conservatives and many career Justice employees favor Keating, a former FBI agent and Justice Department veteran, according to the AP. Montana Gov. Marc Racicot had been considered a leading contender for the job but withdrew his name from consideration.
The Rest Of The Team
After the FTC, FCC and antitrust leaders are chosen, the next most important personnel decisions will be to staff high-tech positions within the Commerce Department, the White House's Office of Science and Technology Policy, the National Economic Council and OMB.
In general, Bush's transition team is considering several options for how to structure high-tech policy. One is to keep the current structure, where the bulk of high-tech issues are handled by a combination of Commerce and White House aides. Another idea is to create a new office of technology within Commerce, where a "czar" would lead high-tech policy for the administration.
The idea of a "czar" however, is likely to be nixed because reaction in the high-tech industry has been mixed, according to sources.
The CIO
However, one person in the Bush administration is likely to be in charge of all chief information officers (CIOs) in government agencies and to coordinate e-government initiatives and computer security. Bush said on the campaign trail that one person should oversee government computer networks. The Bush administration also may appoint a privacy officer to replace Peter Swire, who has handled privacy issues for the Clinton administration.
The Bush transition has created team chiefs for departments and agencies to draft policy positions and hire personnel as quickly as possible when Bush takes office. Some 600 staff people from Capitol Hill, think tanks and other places will participate in the transition process.
Tim Adams, who was a high-tech and economic policy adviser to Bush during the campaign, is taking a lead role in developing high-tech policy for the transition and will be advising the team of chiefs on high-tech issues and potential personnel choices.
The Commerce Department
On Wednesday, Bush named Evans, his campaign chairman, as Commerce secretary. Evans is chairman of an energy company, Tom Brown Inc., and has a degree in mechanical engineering. He is not well known in the high-tech community, but he is expected to name officials with strong tech backgrounds.
"While he may not have immediate high-tech experience, there is commitment from the top on technology, and he maybe will make it a bigger part of the department than in the past," said Connie Correll, spokeswoman for Information Technology Industry Council (ITI). "IT is an issue that is such a big part of our society you can't ignore it."
Ted Kassinger, a partner at the law firm Vinson and Elkins, is heading the transition staff team for Commerce and serving as the point man on Bush policy positions for the department's International Trade Administration and the Bureau of Export Administration, according to an e-mail circulated within Commerce. Kassinger is a close friend of Bush campaign domestic policy adviser Josh Bolton.
House Commerce Committee staff director J.D. Derderian is heading the team developing policy positions at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). Derderian's committee boss, Chairman Tom Bliley, R-VA, is retiring this year.
House Science Committee deputy director Richard Russell is handling policy development for the Technology Administration, which oversees the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Russell's current boss, committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner, R-WI, is in line to lead the House Judiciary Committee.
The NTIA
NTIA is one of the most important agencies within Commerce. The agency has jurisdiction over significant telecom issues, like broadband and Internet domain-name issues.
Those who are being considered for the job include Amazon.com's vice president of global public policy, Paul Misener. He is trained as an electrical engineer, and was a partner at Wiley Rein and Fielding, where he worked on Internet issues. Before that, Misener was chief of staff for FCC member Harold Furtchgott-Roth. He also worked for Intel as in-house counsel on telecom and other issues.
Another possible candidate is former Sen. Larry Pressler, R-SD, who was one of the chief architects of the telecom act. Greg Rohde, who is the current assistant secretary of commerce at NTIA, also is a candidate and has expressed interest in staying at the agency for the short term.
Some industry officials also are looking to the Bush administration to develop a policy package geared toward benefiting the high-tech sector.
For example, Jeff Eisenach, president of the Progress and Freedom Foundation and a high-tech adviser to the campaign, is urging Bush to immediately adopt deregulatory policy, including naming heads to the FCC and FTC who are clearly focused on deregulation. He also believes an overall tax cut could help boost the slowing economy, particularly in the high-tech sector, as well as making the tax credit for research and development permanent.
"The key to renewed growth lies in reversing the tax-and-regulate policies now hurting high-tech," Eisenach wrote in a recent editorial. "Most of the needed changes can be made without legislation, and the rest have bipartisan support on Capitol Hill. A high-tech agenda would thus be a high-payoff item in early 2001."
Bush has said that his economic package aimed at boosting the economy will include a $1.3 trillion tax cut, deregulation measures and free trade. "Tax cuts are about economic growth," Bush said at a news conference. Congressional Democrats, however, have said a tax cut of the magnitude Bush proposes is not acceptable.
Though tax cuts per se have not been described as high-tech policy in the past, Bush and Vice President-elect Dick Cheney have pointed to the slump in the stock market, mostly led by high-tech companies, as a reason why a tax cut is necessary to re-ignite the slowing economy.
 | - by Bara Vaida |
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