Executive Fellowship

By Victor Rosenberg

Around 1997 the Computing Research Association concluded that the federal government could benefit from the services of academic computer professionals. I am not sure why they came to this conclusion, but I think they were right and I am grateful they decided to establish a fellowship for senior faculty in information technology to spend a year or two in Washington. As the first recipient of the CRA fellowship, my goal for the year in Washington was to help where I could, but more importantly to learn as much as I could about the government's policies in the area of electronic commerce. Little did I know that I would be involved in the creation of the policies.

I chose to be placed in the Department of Commerce, because it is one of the agencies that deal with business, universities, and local governments. This is the intersection where I believe e-commerce will be most important.

I came to two major conclusions about electronic commerce policy. I concluded that electronic commerce is not just buying and selling on the Internet, it is a much more profound restructuring of business so that it can function effectively in a global, networked environment. More and more companies are coming to recognize this and are wrestling with the consequences. Government officials must understand the phenomenon and deal with the issues that are raised. My second conclusion is that government must help technologically and economically challenged businesses and individuals participate in the new wired world.

The major question that government officials are grappling with is just what is the proper role for government in this new technological environment. Government must help the smaller and the disadvantaged businesses to participate in the technology; and second it must develop policies to make e-commerce safe and effective. The latter includes the development of standards where appropriate and making sure that consumers can trust the system. They must be confident that they will not be defrauded and they must be confident that the system will be reliable. This is especially true of business-to-business e-commerce which is currently about four fifths of all electronic commerce.

As part of my work I participated in the writing of the Department's 2001 budget request. If the budget is funded (a big if) there should be room for a program that will target small- and medium-sized business for assistance in getting into the world of electronic commerce.

The Fellowship Year

The fellowship year began with an excellent ten-day orientation presented by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). In cooperation with many scientific professional societies, AAAS sponsors about seventy fellowships each year and places scientists in Congress and in executive branch agencies. This orientation, along with a continuing series of seminars throughout the year, gave me an especially useful insight into science policy and how it is made in Washington.

Washington is a strange place for a Midwesterner to land. It has a unique life of its own and is especially strange for a former entrepreneur who is used to getting things done quickly and efficiently. JFK used to joke that Washington is a town of northern charm and southern efficiency. I arrived in Washington at a very interesting time with the culmination of the impeachment trial. It will be difficult to get much done in the last two years of the Clinton Administration, but e-commerce will not wait, even for politicians.

One of the highlights of the year in Washington was observing the impeachment close up. I went to a session of the Senate trial and was amused by the conversation of a family behind me in the Senate gallery. The mother said to the son, "now if you behave here we can go to the Air and Space Museum and see the Imax film." Somehow this put the year and the impeachment in perspective.

Learning about the process of government has given me some significant new insights. I have learned how important the political parties are in Washington and how much policy is made not just by legislation, but by political appointees in all the agencies run by the executive branch. It was difficult to learn who is a political appointee and who is a career civil servant. I learned that elections really are important and it matters whether a Republican or a Democrat wins a particular House or Senate seat. I expect to become much more active in local politics as a result of my stay in Washington.

My year in Washington fully met my expectations. I was able to reorient myself towards electronic commerce and was able to learn about the processes of government. In addition I made many contacts that will be helpful when I return to the University of Michigan. I came to Washington with a normal degree of cynicism about government. As the year progressed my cynicism lessened as I watched able and talented people working hard for the public good. Now that I am leaving and am watching the extreme partisan bickering the cynicism is beginning to return.

Recommendations

In a recent action the CRA board decided to discontinue the Senior Executive Fellowship program, but it might be a good idea to look at a more junior Congressional fellowship. Many of the participants in the AAAS program are fresh from post-docs or are junior faculty members who want to get into the policy arena. Washington could certainly use more people with skills in computer science as the issues they are dealing with increasingly involve computer or communications technology. Without effective input from the computer science community Congress can most likely be counted on to negatively affect the progress of technology.