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Digital-Rights Team Takes Shape
by Bara Vaida
The still evolving high-tech coalition that will focus on the debate over technology to protect digital rights has hired Fred McClure to help in its organization.
McClure is a government relations specialist at the Texas-based law firm Winstead Sechrest & Minick. Before that, he served as legislative affairs assistant to former presidents George Bush and Ronald Reagan, and as associate deputy attorney general and legislative director to former Sen. John Tower, R-Texas.
Gloria Dittus, head of the Dittus Communications, will head public relations for the coalition, and Bruce Heiman, a partner at Preston Gates Ellis & Rouvelas Meeds, will serve as the executive director.
The goal of the coalition, which includes Apple Computer, Dell Computer, Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft, is to educate lawmakers and the media on digital content issues and to provide a united front in opposition to a government mandate that specific technologies be designed to thwart copyright infringement.
Each company pays up to $100,000 to join the coalition, according to high-tech sources. Jennifer Greeson, a spokeswoman for the coalition declined to comment on the group's budget.
Microsoft, AOL Officials Co-Chair CapNet
High-tech Democrats got a boost last week when Jack Krumholtz, Microsoft's director of federal government affairs and a long-time policy leader, became co-chairman of CapNet, a bipartisan high-tech lobbying group for the Washington region.
Krumholtz replaces former Rep. Vic Fazio, D-Calif., of Clark & Weinstock. Ironically, he will serve as co-chair with Republican Lisa Nelson, who is vice president of external relations at AOL Time Warner -- a fierce rival of Microsoft's in the high-tech market.
"It often surprises people that we agree on many things," Krumholtz said of Nelson. "We are obviously fierce competitors, but we get together on a host of policy issues and I have the utmost respect for Lisa."
While Krumholtz said it is too early to predict a policy agenda for the 108th Congress, he said CapNet likely would share its views on math and science education and workforce issues. Krumholtz also said he would like to increase the profile of CapNet on Capitol Hill, echoing Nelson, who expressed a similar sentiment when she became a co-chair in May.
Krumholtz said he does not see TechNet, the high-tech bipartisan lobbying group that began in Silicon Valley, as a competitor. "I think there is a fair degree of overlap. ... I don't personally think we are competitors of TechNet," he said.
In other CapNet news, the group in the past week has endorsed the re-election of Rep. Jennifer Dunn, R-Wash., and Sens. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., and John (Jay) Rockefeller, D-W.Va., because of their support for high-tech issues. The CapNet political action committee donated $25,464 to political candidates between Oct. 1 and Oct.15, according to Federal Election Commission records.
FBI Names New Cyber-Crime Chief
Jana Monroe has been named assistant director of the FBI's cyber division, and she will supervise and facilitate federal investigations of violations in which the Internet, computer systems and networks are exploited as instruments or targets of crimes. She was previously the special agent in charge of the Los Angeles field office, where she was responsible for the organized crime, anti-drug, violent crime and white-collar crime programs.
Monroe replaces Larry Mefford, who has been named assistant director of the FBI's counter-terrorism division. Since beginning his FBI career, Mefford has served as an assistant special agent in charge of the San Diego office and associate special agent in charge of the San Francisco field office, where he was responsible for managing all FBI operations.
Mefford replaces Pasquale D'Amuro, who has been named the FBI's executive assistant director for counter-terrorism and counter-intelligence.
Treasury Taps Policy Coordinator
James Carter is joining the Treasury Department to become deputy assistant secretary for policy coordination. He has been the associate director for the White House National Economic Council (NEC), where he helped formulate and implement economic policy.
Carter also managed policy coalitions and served on a White House working group on government waste and business subsidies. Before joining the NEC, Carter was a senior economist at the Joint Economic Committee in Congress.
CIO Takes Helm At Science Agency
The National Science Foundation (NSF) has named George Strawn as its chief information officer to oversee all aspects of technology acquisition, management and application.
Strawn joined the foundation in 1995 and served as director of the division of advanced networking infrastructure and research until 1998. In 1999, he became the executive officer of the directorate for computer and information science and engineering and was the acting assistant director from September 2001 until this May. While at the NSF, he co-chaired the federal networking council, the interagency, large-scale networking working group, and the coordinating committee on intercontinental research networks.
NSF, Northrop Grumman Expert Win Awards
NSF was recognized as a 2002 e-government performance leader by a group of organizations led by the Performance Institute. The agency was honored for its electronic proposal for a processing and management integration system.
Elsewhere, the Government Electronics and Information Technology Association honored Dennis McCallam, a senior technical fellow at Northrop Grumman Information Technology. The group spotlighted his long-term work with the association in helping it publish forecasts and analyze the government IT market. "Dennis's vision and leadership have made sure that our market forecasts have addressed some of the most important emerging segments of the federal market," GEIA President Dan Heinemeier said.
News From The World Of Think Tanks
Phillip Burgess, a long-term member of the Progress and Freedom Foundation Board, has been named president of the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA), which sets governance practices for public and private policy organizations.
Most recently, Burgess has been president of the Annapolis Institute, a nonpartisan think tank, and a senior fellow at the Center for the New West. In his job as head of NAPA, Burgess said he will address issues such as fighting terrorism and securing the homeland.
In other think tank news, Peter Jobse has been named executive vice president and chief operating officer of Virginia's Center for Innovative Technology. Jobse has 23 years of technology industry experience, most recently as senior vice president of ArcSight, a network-security software startup. Before that, he was chief operating officer of Condor Technology Solutions and also spent 20 years at EDS as a president and general manager.
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