The latest executive order signed by President Trump mandates the creation of the American Technology Council (ATC), a new government task force formed with the goal of overhauling the United States information technology and related solutions that the federal government has at their disposal. The order was officially signed on Friday but the White House only revealed its existence on early Monday by publishing the full contents of the act on its official pages.
The newly created committee will be headed by Chris Liddell, Assistant to the President and Director of Strategic Initiatives at the White House. The 59-year-old who previously worked for General Motors and Microsoft will be expected to direct the committee consisting of top government officials like the homeland security secretary, defense secretary, and budget director with the goal of modernizing federal information technologies, the White House said. Liddell himself is only expected to preside over meetings of the ATC that won’t be attended by either President Trump or Vice President Pence, as stated by the executive order. The ATC’s future activities will likely suggest an increase in federal spending on IT solutions, but it remains to be seen in what manner does the new committee plan to “transform and modernize” this particular segment of the government in the future.
Trump’s latest executive order follow a meeting that the 45th U.S. President had with Silicon Vallery giants in late 2016 before being sworn into the highest office in the country. Officials from the likes of Alphabet, Tesla, and Facebook met with the then-President-elect in December to discuss the direction in which the U.S. tech industry is heading, though it’s currently unclear whether the contents of their meeting directly led to the establishment of the ATC. Likewise, the White House didn’t clarify on whether the new task force is planning to consult tech giants and Internet firms in the country, especially those like Oracle, Tesla, PayPal, and other companies whose top executives have ties with the current administration. An update on the ATC’s endeavors will likely follow in the coming weeks after the committee holds its first meeting, though there’s currently no time frame for when exactly that might happen.