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White House Chief Technology Officer Steps Down

Posted by Soulskill on from the help-wanted-must-know-tech-stuff dept.

New submitter Krazy Kanuck writes "The White House is running a story on their OSTP blog that Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra is stepping down after being appointed to the post by President Obama in 2009. There is some mention of him returning to his home state of Virginia, and the Washington Post suggests a possible bid for lieutenant governor."

55 comments

  1. Can we apply as a group? by LostCluster · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Maybe we can talk someone in the White House press office to use Ask Slashdot for technical questions and Your Rights Online for recommendations on tech bills... Would somebody please put together a resume for We the People of Slashdot?

    1. Re:Can we apply as a group? by girlintraining · · Score: 5, Funny

      Would somebody please put together a resume for We the People of Slashdot?

      We could, but it would be full of contradictory skills and experiences, an entire year devoted to yelling "First Post!", and would boast certifications like "Made baby jesus cry."

      Actually... It's still better than the current crop of presidential hopefuls. PRINT IT.

      --
      #fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
    2. Re:Can we apply as a group? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      FUND IT.

      I dont care how much it costs or who has to pay for it....

    3. Re:Can we apply as a group? by clarkkent09 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Nooo, we don't want the wider public to see how naive nerds are when it comes to politics, as evidenced daily by most posts here. Let's stay quiet and pretend we are smart.

      --
      Negative moral value of force outweighs the positive value of good intentions.
    4. Re:Can we apply as a group? by LostCluster · · Score: 1

      Come on, were you against the SOPA/PIPA blackouts?

    5. Re:Can we apply as a group? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "We could, but it would be full of contradictory skills and experiences, an entire year devoted to yelling "First Post!", and would boast certifications like "Made baby jesus cry."

      Oh, you mean like whatsthatstuff.. um... oh yea, democracy?

    6. Re:Can we apply as a group? by smellotron · · Score: 1

      Come on, were you against the SOPA/PIPA blackouts?

      Doubtful, but that's the proverbial diamond in the rough. Are you familiar with the spam form response? I have not yet seen the equivalent for political reform discussions. I believe this is an indication that the Slashdot as a community underestimates the inherent complexity (corruption aside!) of American politics.

    7. Re:Can we apply as a group? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      First vote!

    8. Re:Can we apply as a group? by medcalf · · Score: 1

      Trust me when I tell you that you do not want to work in technology anywhere near the White House.

      --
      -- Two men say they're Jesus. One of them must be wrong. - Dire Straits
    9. Re:Can we apply as a group? by ubrgeek · · Score: 1

      And that kids is the story of How I Met Your Congress.

      --
      Bark less. Wag more.
    10. Re:Can we apply as a group? by analyst-cz · · Score: 1

      Did you ever notice how fatal consequences does ruling by NOT politically naive persons have? I am pretty sure we are living the era where this will change simply as the result of the nature laws force.

      --
      "Interesting times to you..." (One of the most feared black magic curses.)
  2. At least by Dyinobal · · Score: 3, Interesting

    At least he isn't stepping down to a lobbying position for the media industry. I half expected that when I read the title. Though I guess he still can...

    1. Re:At least by jank1887 · · Score: 1

      lieutenant gov makes for a great position while he waits for the 1-2 year lobbying restraint to be lifted.

    2. Re:At least by Kerstyun · · Score: -1

      HB-1 visa's are tied to a job, so most likely his on the next plain back to calcutter.

      --
      Keep the whitehouse white, vote Trump & Palin 2020.
  3. This just in by koan · · Score: 5, Funny

    Aneesh Chopra current lieutenant governor of Virginia has introduced the death penalty for on-line piracy bill (DPOP)

    --
    "If any question why we died, Tell them because our fathers lied."
    1. Re:This just in by Richard+Dick+Head · · Score: 0

      And outsourced the executions to his friends at home

      --
      The real path to male liberation
  4. That's cool. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Now hire Lessig or Schmidt.

  5. Big talker, little substance by blahbooboo · · Score: 1

    He gives amazing speeches. Unfortunately, he really doesn't understand computers and it's a joke he was made CTO

    1. Re:Big talker, little substance by Hatta · · Score: 3, Funny

      That sounds awfully familiar somehow.

      --
      Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
    2. Re:Big talker, little substance by artor3 · · Score: 4, Informative

      Care to give an example to back up your claim? He seemed to do a good job, from the little I saw about him. He was behind the push to bring better internet access to rural areas, expanding access to electronic health records, and he opposed SOPA. For a new position without a very clearly defined set of goals, I'd say he did fine.

    3. Re:Big talker, little substance by modmans2ndcoming · · Score: 3, Informative

      consolidating the government's Data centers and starting a real push to update the infrastructure to something resembling the 2010's rather than the 1980's is not doing much?

    4. Re:Big talker, little substance by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      +5, Burn

    5. Re:Big talker, little substance by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Careful, or the ACTA guys might sue for copyright infrengement.

    6. Re:Big talker, little substance by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Given that "cloud computing" is merely "mainframe computing" with a prettier name, the difference between the 1980s and the 2010s is much less than you seem to think it is.

    7. Re:Big talker, little substance by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      When he was the CTO of Virginia, he made an agreement with Northrop Gruman that setup large systems for the DMV such that if there were any failure in the server area, the entire system--statewide--lost connectivity. It wasn't until the current governor of Virginia took office that the contract was forced to be renegotiated so that we got a better deal.

      Similarly thanks to him, the Virginia State Police now rent all of their computers rather than buying them outright, and their systems lack the resources to handle their actual requirements.

      Awesome job by him, not only by giving the work to a defense contractor when an in-state business could have absolutely done it better, and likely for less, but for just generally screwing it up.

      In short, he left Virginia's infrastructure in a devastated position whenever he touched it because he is a fool in good clothes.

    8. Re:Big talker, little substance by modmans2ndcoming · · Score: 1

      uhh.... it is absolutely NOT mainframe computing. GRID computing, AKA cloud computing, is not even close to time-slice based timeshare processing with dumb terminals connected to the mainframe on a LAN.

      anyway... I am talking more about the actual tech....not the computing model.

    9. Re:Big talker, little substance by modmans2ndcoming · · Score: 1

      That is pretty bad, but I would have to understand how it came to that rather than assume Northrop Grumman provided him with a list of network topologies and he picked the one with a single point of failure.

    10. Re:Big talker, little substance by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I wouldn't. Sorry.. but the fact that he went ahead with ANYTHING that has a single point of failure for any system intended for use beyond a single, recreactional user is......... fucking ridiculous.

      Northrop Grumman didn't need to provide it, maliciously or lazily. Boyo just went with it. Either because he was lazy (points against), incompetent (points against), corrupt (points against), careless (points against), or powerless (potentially neutral).

      I cannot envision any circumstances in which he could appear to be doing a good job and yet still let stuff like that through.

    11. Re:Big talker, little substance by nasirg · · Score: 0

      I just couldn’t leave your website before telling you that we really enjoyed the quality information you offer to your visitors Will be back often to check up on new posts electronics shop

    12. Re:Big talker, little substance by modmans2ndcoming · · Score: 1

      Perhaps he bought one thing, they built another and due to a setting in some routers, they discovered that if you bring one part down, everything else comes down? To me that is not something the CTO would just be able to see and if the state did not have any Cisco engineers to validate the work of the contractor, then he had to take the contractor's word for it.

    13. Re:Big talker, little substance by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Dvorak claims that Kundra is a phony:

      http://www.dvorak.org/blog/2009/08/12/special-report-is-us-chief-information-officer-cio-vivek-kundra-a-phony/

    14. Re:Big talker, little substance by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Different people dude!

    15. Re:Big talker, little substance by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And thats why you work in IT, and aren't a architect/manager/well-paid.

      For all intensive purposes, its mainframe computing with different guts. Cost of entry is just lower, thats the improvement.

    16. Re:Big talker, little substance by modmans2ndcoming · · Score: 1

      So.... really it is the same topology with different technology....

      Good job just agreeing with me.

  6. SNAP INTO A SLIM JIM! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    Spook BackDoors In Cisco Routers
    - Older news, but still relevant!!
    Please save this story and repost it everywhere
    Especially in Security Discussion Forum Sites
    - You should use OpenBSD or a hardened Linux distro
    For a router, NOT these blackboxes offered with
    proprietary hardware & firmware!

    http://www.forbes.com/2010/02/03/hackers-networking-equipment-technology-security-cisco.html

    "Special Report
    Cisco's Backdoor For Hackers
    Andy Greenberg, 02.03.10, 01:45 PM EST
    The methods networking companies use to let the Feds watch suspects also expose the rest of us.

    ARLINGTON, Va. -- Activists have long grumbled about the privacy implications of the legal "backdoors" that networking companies like Cisco build into their equipment--functions that let law enforcement quietly track the Internet activities of criminal suspects. Now an IBM researcher has revealed a more serious problem with those backdoors: They don't have particularly strong locks, and consumers are at risk.

    In a presentation at the Black Hat security conference Wednesday, IBM ( IBM - news - people ) Internet Security Systems researcher Tom Cross unveiled research on how easily the "lawful intercept" function in Cisco's ( CSCO - news - people ) IOS operating system can be exploited by cybercriminals or cyberspies to pull data out of the routers belonging to an Internet service provider (ISP) and watch innocent victims' online behavior.

    But the result, Cross says, is that any credentialed employee can implement the intercept to watch users, and the ISP has no method of tracking those privacy violations. "An insider who knows the password can use it without an audit trail and send the data to anywhere on the Internet," Cross says.

    Cross told Cisco about his findings in December 2008, but with the exception of the patch Cisco released following the revelation of its router bug in 2008, the security flaws he discussed haven't been fixed. In an interview following Cross' talk, Cisco spokeswoman Jennifer Greeson said that the company is "confident in its framework." "We recognize that security is complicated," she said. "We're looking at [Cross'] findings and we'll take them into account."

    Cisco isn't actually the primary target of Cross' critique. He points out that all networking companies are legally required to build lawful intercepts into their equipment.

    Special Report
    Cisco's Backdoor For Hackers
    Andy Greenberg, 02.03.10, 01:45 PM EST
    The methods networking companies use to let the Feds watch suspects also expose the rest of us.

    ARLINGTON, Va. -- Cisco, in fact, is the only networking company that follows the recommendations of the Internet Engineering Task Force standards body and makes its lawful intercept architecture public, exposing it to peer review and security scrutiny. The other companies keep theirs in the dark, and they likely suffer from the same security flaws or worse. "Cisco did the right thing by publishing this," says Cross. "Although I found some weaknesses, at least we know what they are and how to mitigate them."

    The exploitation of lawful intercept is more than theoretical. Security and privacy guru Bruce Schneier wrote last month that the Google ( GOOG - news - people ) hackings in China were enabled by Google's procedures for sharing information with U.S. law enforcement officials. And in 2004 and 2005, a group of hackers used intercept vulnerabilities in Ericsson ( ERIC - news - people ) network switches to spy on a wide range of political targets including the cellphone of Greece's prime minister.

    All of that, argues IBM's Cross, means that Internet-related companies need to be more transparent about their lawful intercept procedures or risk exposing all of their users. "There are a lot of other technology companies out there that haven't published their architectur

  7. Aneesh Chopra by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's uncanny how these endless parade of underachieving posers can in three short years flush through the administrative revolving door and make our government is so much more efficient and accomplished.
    One can only look in awe how America can continue to find such endless supply of underachieving posers, sorry I mean talents.

    1. Re:Aneesh Chopra by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      And yet, it is better than it has been in almost a decade. The last admin took a great economy, peacetime, no defict, and then created world wars all over, ran up massive deficits and destroyed western economies while sending the jobs to China, North Korea, Vietnam, Venezuela, and even Iran.

    2. Re:Aneesh Chopra by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      endless parade of underachieving posers

      I thought this one was the shoplifter, but I guess he already left. Hard to keep all these Indians straight.

  8. Tango Down! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The White House has responded to two petitions about legislative approaches to combat online piracy. In their response, Victoria Espinel, Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator at Office of Management and Budget, Aneesh Chopra, U.S. Chief Technology Officer, and Howard Schmidt, Special Assistant to the President and Cybersecurity Coordinator for National Security Staff stress that the important task of protecting intellectual property online must not threaten an open and innovative internet.

    That's what happens when you DARE stand up against the Mighty MPAA and Ruling RIAA. One down, two to go. See that, Larry page? How about you, Jimmy Wales? Like your jobs?

  9. Pirate Party by tidepool · · Score: 2

    Honestly,

    This is why we (the US) needs a far more established 'Pirate Party' (Yes, the name is terrible, but the ideas behind it, I'm sure many agree with) so a shown to others, able-bodied, pool of candidates would already be present.

    True, the chances of hell of actually being voted in to such a position would be slim to none, however, it is a good catalyst for said party to bring ideas and ideals to attention to the general public.

    Mass. and I believe another state has an officially registered party -- Where are all the other states? Let's GO people!

    1. Re:Pirate Party by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Pffffff.... talk about names.

      Republican Party -- so they want to rise up against the King of America?
      Democratic Party - -that's so we have a clear alternative for the Totalitarian Party of Overlords?

      On topic: FIRST you need a national Pirate Party, you have it: www.pirate-party.us (USPP). Within that organization, start looking for volunteers to set up "locals". Then use websites like reddit, slashdot and facebook to find members. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Pirate_Party#State_parties is not very encouraging. This is the time to set things up, while the SOPA/PIPA fire is still hot.

      Shameless plugs:
      Pirate Party radio: http://www.rantmedia.ca/piratepartyradio/
      NoSafeHarbor - a book published by the USPP, available under CC, if you want to check it out, start with Rick Falkvinge's chapter: http://www.nosafeharbor.com/

    2. Re:Pirate Party by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Republican Party -- so they want to rise up against the King of America?

      Republicans hate the French ('freedumb fries'), you know, so that's clearly why they're in love with a thrice-damned Corsican.

    3. Re:Pirate Party by tidepool · · Score: 1

      Thank you for correcting some of my ignorance! I've read about a few Euro-based in the news, but came up rather lacking at home. I actually have already ordered the physical print copy from amazon the other day; It should be here Monday. (I figure it's worth actually purchasing).

      Also, you're absolutely right about the time-frame of things -- Now is the time.

    4. Re:Pirate Party by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hear, Hear!

      In fact, given all the headlines lately, I nominate.....

      .

      .

      ANONYMOUS Party!

  10. The reason why is. by wbr1 · · Score: 1

    He got tired of administering (ignoring) the We The People petition site. That is a hard job.

    --
    Silence is a state of mime.
  11. Was NHIN his baby? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Pushing for access to electronic health records as a policy statement is exactly that: big talk without substance.

    The NHIN "architecture" is a great example, claiming to solve national scale health record exchange without the taboo national health identifier through an ill-thought broadcast tree for patient demographics searches. Anyone familiar with health IT, computer science, and enterprise computing boondoggles would recognize the stench of failure on that one. It's the emperor's new HIE.

  12. Sounds about right by dave562 · · Score: 1

    That seems to be par for the course when it comes to "super star IT staff". They tend to last 2-4 years where ever they go, and then they're off on whatever the next shiny thing their ADHD brain latches onto.

  13. Just like Steve Chen? by gelfling · · Score: 1

    Every technical/technological post this and the prior admin has tried to staff has crashed and burned. The White House understands generally, what lobbyists and Congressional staffers tell them to understand. If it doesn't have to do with posturing about either giving stuff to poor people or pretending to give educational things to the teachers of some target group it doesn't mean squat.

    Remember with the appointment of Steve Chen we were going to have algae powered teleportation in 3 years? Yeah how did that Nobel Laureate work out?

  14. Revolving Door Spins Faster by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    Looks like the Exodus is gaining momentum.

    Not a loss at all although.

    This faggot got his fag and then some.

    State of Obama = Titanic! Best to have a fist full of dollars in one hand and a Colt 45 in the other hand to secure a seat on the dingy just at the critical moment of imminent sinkage. Obama-boy needs to keep this in mind too ... least he's not left behind.

    Not good to be ... behind.

  15. Nah by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I work in technology for the White House. (In fact, Aneesh is my boss.) I rather recommend it.

  16. D'oh by waldoj · · Score: 1

    I wasn't logged in, but that was my post.

    1. Re:D'oh by medcalf · · Score: 1

      So not in OCIO, then?

      --
      -- Two men say they're Jesus. One of them must be wrong. - Dire Straits
  17. My hovercraft is full of eels by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

    And this, children, is why you shouldn't rely on automated translation.

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  18. Just another fraud appointee like Vivek Kundra by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Like Vivek Kundra was a political appointee so Obama could suck up to India, and all of their lucrative campaign contributions.

    Great post from the dice message boards:

    Aneesh Chopra Involved in Washington Scandal

    Blue Virginia: Congratulations to Aneesh ChopraApr 17, 2009 ... Posted by Lowell at 7:55 PM. Labels: Aneesh Chopra, Technology ... From Washington, VA to Washington, DC: Tracking Local Food. 4 hours ago ... Schools for Scandal. 7 hours ago. Too Conservative ...
    bluevablog.blogspot.com/2009/04/congratulations-to-aneesh-chopra.html - Similar pages

    Federal EyeJeffrey Zients and Aneesh Chopra have been tapped to serve as the federal ... Zients is a Washington-based entrepreneur connected to several local companies: ... a scandal-plauged agency suffering from low morale and concerns about its ...
    voices.washingtonpost.com/federal-eye/?hpid=news-col-blog-viewall - Similar pages

    He's No Technologist, But Moves in Tech CirclesAneesh Chopra studied health care policy and is a policy junkie. ... and last month its chief executive, Robert A. McCormick, resigned following a scandal over $241000 in ... Washington's technology community fared quite well in 2005. ...
    www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/28/AR2005122801491_2.html - Similar pages

    Federal EyeJeffrey Zients and Aneesh Chopra have been tapped to serve as the ... In addition to reporting duties for Federal Eye and the pages of The Washington Post, .... in Holder's office because of his resignation amid the Watergate scandal. ...
    www.washingtonpost.com/federaleye/ - Similar pages

    More results from www.washingtonpost.com
    Obama tech pick on leave after raids - Washington TimesMar 12, 2009 ... VA's secretary of technology is a guy named Aneesh Chopra. ... The IT community in the Washington D.C. region full well knows that in the ...
    www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/mar/12/fbi-searches-office-obama-choice-information-chief/ - 43k - Cached - Similar pages

    OLIVER NORTHANEESH CHOPRA Feb 12, 2008 ... By Oliver North. ... Fox News & Oliver North Involved with U.S. Afghanistan Massacre Cover-up. ... Oliver North , Political Scandal Figure / Radio Personality Born: 7 October 1943 ... North is sworn in before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, . ...
    www.donotbreak.com/lux/?oliver-north/ - 34k - Cached - Similar pages

    Washington ExecutiveBiz Event Series - Premier Events for ...Bahman Atefi has been involved in over 11 acquisitions within the last ten .... Join ExecutiveBiz and Virginia's Secretary of Technology Aneesh Chopra for ...
    www.executivebiz.com/events-eb.php - 63k - Cached - Similar pages

    Consumer Electronics Association Statement on White House CTO ...“CEA commends President Obama for the selection of Aneesh Chopra as the nation’s first Chief ... CEA Washington Forum. April 21-23, 2009, Washington, DC ...
    money.aol.com/article/consumer-electronics-association/284727 - 13 hours ago - Similar pages

    CNN Political Ticker: All politics, all the time Blog Archive ...WASHINGTON (CNN) - President Obama named two additional members of his executive team ... Officer and Aneesh Chopra will serve as Obama's Chief Technology Officer. ... Chopra currently serves as Virginia's Secretary of Technology under Gov. ... Any bets on how long it will be before a Tax scandal or a "Pay to Play" ...
    politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/04/18/obama-names-performance-a

  19. stepping down by slick7 · · Score: 1

    When you can walk, walk away. When you can't walk away, run.
    Finally, someone who has the guts to divest themselves before the O'bama, Bush, Clinton crime cabal has the floor drop out from under them.
    Life: the time between the floor dropping and the rope going taut.

    --
    The mind conceives, the body achieves, the spirit manifests.