President-elect Obama has intimated that he wants to appoint someone to a cabinet-level position that oversees technology. Makes sense - there are existing positions that oversee everything except for technology (unless you think of the DoD as technology...technology that is inaccessible to all but the military). But I agree with Eric Lundquist of CIO Insight: We need a CIO, not a CTO.

I think of a CTO as a board-level gadget guru, someone who while has a reasonably good sense for the balance sheet still has a focus on a small slice of the pie - creating technology that has a place in the market or may have a place in the future. Information however, is like the foundation of a house and with all the disparate and unconnected systems across our government's infrastructure, heaven knows we need a new foundation.

The issue here is that some believe a CTO is called for while others are thinking CIO. Imagine that: Within the organization there is disagreement and discussion over a position to be created and staffed.