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Wesley Clark Powers Up With Tech Venture
by Bara Vaida
Now that the war with Iraq appears to be over, CNN's senior military analyst and potential Democrat presidential candidate Wesley Clark is focusing on technology ventures. On Monday, WaveCrest Laboratories, a Dulles, Va., based transportation technology company announced to a packed room at the National Press Club that Clark was joining the firm as chairman. He will oversee business, government affairs and international strategy. "The thing that is attractive to me is the enormous potential of this technology that will meet an energy need in the 21st century in a way that protects the environment," Clark said when asked about his personal role at the firm.
WaveCrest's product is an "adaptive motor" that uses software and other technology to convert electrical energy into enough power to run a car. Because it uses electric power, car motors could use less gasoline and produce fewer pollutants, said WaveCrest President Joseph Perry. When Clark was asked whether his association with WaveCrest was in preparation for running for president or meant that he was ruling out a run, Clark said, "It doesn't mean anything." Clark said he remains associated with a number of high-tech firms, including Acxiom, an Arkansas-based data-mining firm. News reports have said that Clark, retired Supreme Allied Commander of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), continues to mull running for president.
WorldCom's Newest Office
WorldCom, which is changing its name to MCI, announced Robert Blakely is its new executive vice president and chief financial officer. Blakely has been vice president and chief financial officer of Tenneco, a managing director of Morgan Stanley, and a member of the Financial Accounting Standards Advisory Council, which advises the nation's accounting oversight board, Tech Law Journal reported.
ACLU Trains For Grassroots Action On Anti-Terror Law
Washington Linkage Group President Zina Pierre, who worked as an intergovernmental affairs specialist during former President Clinton's administration, is kicking into action on behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union, Influence Online reported. The ACLU recently hired Pierre's firm to train between 600 and 1,000 of its members who are visiting Washington June 11-12 to lobby Congress on civil liberties issues, including a broad 2001 anti-terrorism law, surveillance, racial profiling and faith-based initiatives, Pierre said. "We're trying to organize a few celebrities who are interested in these issues," she added.
Bush Appointee On Civil Liberties
President Bush last week announced that he intends to appoint Daniel Sutherland as officer for civil rights and civil liberties at the Homeland Security Department. Currently, Sutherland is chief of staff and senior counsel to the assistant secretary for civil rights at the Education Department. He previously served at the White House, with the Domestic Policy Council, as well as at the Civil Rights Division at the Justice Department.
On the Campaign Trail
A new Field Poll gives Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer an early lead over each of her potential Republican opponents next year, including former Gov. Pete Wilson, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. Only 38 percent of California voters are inclined to support Boxer's re-election, while 43 percent of those surveyed said they would most likely vote against her in 2004. Her backing among Democrats was 61 percent, while Bay Area voters split 48 percent to 36 percent for the former House member.
Republicans claim Boxer's unpopularity combined with her liberal voting record make her vulnerable. In head-to-head matchups with the leading GOP candidates for 2004, Boxer holds a 46-43 percent edge over Wilson, who served in the Senate before becoming governor, and a 50-37 percent lead over Bill Simon, last year's GOP candidate for governor. She holds wider leads over the lesser-known Senate hopefuls, Reps. Darrell Issa, George Radanovich and Doug Ose as well as U.S. Treasurer Rosario Marin, former mayor of Huntington Park. The poll surveyed 695 registered voters from April 1-6 and has an error margin of 3.8 points.
In other campaign activities, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., attended a fundraising event at the Silicon Valley Capitol Club in San Jose on April 17 with San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales, according to an events e-mail circulated by high-tech lobbying group TechNet. On April 28, Sun Microsystems is scheduled to host a discussion about an open primary initiative in the state. In 1996, Californians passed an open primary initiative, which was struck down after the 2000 election by the state Supreme Court. Now the state Chamber of Commerce and the Business Roundtable are pushing for another open primary initiative. On May 2, Cisco Systems has scheduled a lunch with Silicon Valley Democrat Assembly member Rebecca Cohn. Cohn has been pushing a state initiative that would urge companies and educational institutions to take steps to curb the illegal downloading of copyrighted works via their high-speed networks.
On the Honor Circuit
Five Web sites were nominated for best politics Web site by the Webby awards -- the "Oscars" for the Internet -- earlier this month. They include Congress.org, Environmental Working Group, IssuesPA.net, Moveon.org and ABC's The Note and were chosen for the combination of political impact, design, usability, technology and creativity. All Internet users are invited to cast their ballot for the winner of the politics category as well as 29 other categories such as "humor" and "weird." Past winners in the political category include the Center for Responsive Politics. (The reporter of Tech Daily's People column was a nominating judge for the politics category.)
ACM has named Ronald Rivest, Adi Shamir and Leonard Adleman as winners of the 2002 A.M. Turing Award, considered the "Nobel Prize of Computing," for their contributions to public key cryptography. As researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1977, the team developed the RSA code, which has become the foundation for a generation of technology security products. It also has inspired important work in theoretical computer science and mathematics. RSA is an algorithm named for Drs. Rivest, Shamir and Adleman that uses number theory to provide a pragmatic approach to secure transactions. It is today's most widely used encryption method, with applications in Internet browsers and servers, electronic transactions in the credit card industry, and products providing e-mail services.
The Turing Award carries a $100,000 prize, with funding provided by Intel. Rivest is the Viterbi Professor of Computer Science in MIT's Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. Shamir is the Borman Professor in the Applied Math Department of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel. Adleman is Distinguished Henry Salvatori Professor of Computer Science and Professor of Molecular Biology at the University of Southern California.
Correction: In last week's People column, Tech Daily incorrectly reported Ben Wu's title at the Commerce Department. He is deputy undersecretary for the Technology Administration.
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