View source for Chief Technology Officer

{{LeadershipPosition
|department=[[Office of Science and Technology Policy]]
|abbreviation=US CTO
|member_of=[[Cabinet of the United States|Cabinet]]
|reports_to=[[President of the United States]]
|appointer=The [[President of the United States|President]]
|appointer_qualified=with [[United States Senate|Senate]] advice and consent
|termlength=No fixed term
|termlength_qualified=
|constituting_instrument=[[Executive Order 13539]]
|formation={{start date|2009|04|18}}
|deputy=Deputy CTO
|salary=[[Executive Schedule|Executive Schedule, level IV]]
|website=[https://www.whitehouse.gov/ostp/ www.whitehouse.gov/ostp/]
}}
The '''United States Chief Technology Officer''' ('''US CTO''') is an official in the [[Office of Science and Technology Policy]].<ref>[https://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/04/20/aneesh_chopra_us_cto/ Obama taps America's top techie] The Register, 20 April 2009</ref> The U.S. CTO helps the [[President of the United States|President]] and their team harness the power of technology and data to benefit all Americans.<ref>[https://www.whitehouse.gov/ostp/ostps-teams/technology/ "Technology | OSTP | The White House"], January 7, 2024.</ref> The CTO works closely with others both across and outside government on a broad range of work including bringing technology expertise to bear on federal policy and programs, and promoting values-driven technological innovation.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Sargent Jr.|first=John|date=June 4, 2010|title=A Federal Chief Technology Officer in the Obama Administration: Options and Issues for Consideration|url=https://whitehousetransitionproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Obama-CTO-Transition_062410-1.pdf|url-status=live|website=Congressional Research Service|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201029022123/https://whitehousetransitionproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Obama-CTO-Transition_062410-1.pdf |archive-date=2020-10-29 }}</ref><ref>[https://www.whitehouse.gov/ostp/ostps-teams/technology/ "Technology | OSTP | The White House"], January 7, 2024.</ref> The CTO and their team have historically focused on leveraging technology and technical expertise to help create jobs, strengthen privacy protections, harness the benefits and mitigate the risks of artificial intelligence, create paths to improve [[government services]] with [[cost reduction|lower costs]], higher quality and increased transparency and accessibility, help upgrade agencies to use [[open data]] and expand their [[data science]] capabilities, improve quality and reduce the [[health care costs|costs of health care]] and [[criminal justice]], increase access to broadband, bring technical talent into government for policy and modern operations input, improve community innovation engagement by agencies working on local challenges, and help keep the nation secure.<ref>[https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/09/04/18/Weekly-Address-Efficiency-and-Innovation/ "President's Weekly Address Efficiency and Innovation"], April 18, 2009.</ref><ref>[https://www.whitehouse.gov/ostp/news-updates/2023/03/06/remarks-of-alexander-macgillivray-at-the-state-of-the-net-conference/ " Remarks of Alexander Macgillivray at the State of the Net Conference"], March 06, 2023.</ref>

== History ==
During the 2008 presidential campaign, [[Senator Barack Obama]] stated that he would appoint the first federal chief technology officer if elected to the presidency.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Obama '08|title=Barack Obama: Connecting and Empowering All Americans Through Technology and Innovation|url=https://www.wired.com/images_blogs/threatlevel/2009/04/obamatechplan.pdf|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140729014300/http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/threatlevel/2009/04/obamatechplan.pdf |archive-date=2014-07-29 }}</ref> [[Aneesh Chopra]] was named by [[Barack Obama|President Obama]] as the nation's first CTO in April 2009, and confirmed by the Senate on August 7, 2009. Chopra resigned effective February 8, 2012, and was succeeded by [[Todd Park]], formerly the CTO of the Department of Health and Human Services. On September 4, 2014 [[Megan Smith]] was named as the CTO. [[Donald Trump|President Trump]] named [[Michael Kratsios]] as U.S. CTO in May 2019, and he was unanimously confirmed by the [[United States Senate]] on August 1, 2019. As of {{date|{{Date}}|MDY}}, President Biden has yet to nominate a U.S. CTO. This is the longest the position has been unfilled since its inception. 
{| class=wikitable
! <!-- Image -->colspan=2|Name !! President !! Term 
!Deputy CTOs|| References
|-
<!--
| [[File:.jpg|75px]]
| ''[[]] (Current)''
| rowspan=3|[[Donald Trump]]
|| 2014–present
|| <ref name= >{{cite web |url=https:// |publisher=[[]] |access-date=2017-01-18}}</ref>
-->
|-
| [[File:Aneesh_Chopra_Portrait.jpg|75px]]
|[[Aneesh Chopra]]{{ref|SenateConfirmed1|*}}
| rowspan="3" |[[Barack Obama]]<!-- || Removed, see rowspan above -->
|| 2009–2012 
|[[Andrew McLaughlin]]
||<ref>{{cite web |url=https://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2009/04/18/tech-industry-cheers-as-obama-taps-aneesh-chopra-for-cto/ |title=Tech Industry Cheers as Obama Taps Aneesh Chopra for CTO |author=Schatz, Amy | work=The Wall Street Journal | date=2009-04-18 |access-date=2017-01-18}}</ref><ref>[https://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/legislative/one_item_and_teasers/nom_confc.htm "Nominations confirmed"], "senate.gov", August 7, 2009.</ref><ref name="nytimes012712">{{cite web |url=http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/27/top-technology-official-leaving-the-white-house/ |title=Top Technology Official Leaving the White House |author=Ashely Southall |work=The New York Times|date=2012-01-27 |access-date=2012-03-13}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2009/06/03/not-everyone-is-happy-with-obamas-pick-for-deputy-cto/ |title=Not Everyone is Happy with Obama's Pick for Deputy CTO |author=Morozov, Evgeny |work=[[Foreign Policy]] |date =2009-06-03 |access-date=2020-10-15}}</ref>
|-
| [[File:Todd Park.jpeg|75px]]
| [[Todd Park]]
|| 2012–2014
|[[Ryan Panchadsaram]], [[Jennifer Pahlka]], [[Nicole Wong]]
|| <ref name=politico>{{cite web |url=http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0312/73848.html |title=At SXSW, Todd Park talks startups |author=Hart, Kim |work=Politico |date=2012-03-11 |access-date=2012-03-13}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://federalnewsnetwork.com/technology-main/2014/04/inside-the-presidential-innovation-fellows-program-a-qa-with-the-white-house/|title=Inside the Presidential Innovation Fellows program: A Q&A with the White House|date=April 1, 2014|website=Federal News Network}}</ref>
|-
| [[File:Megan Smith official portrait.jpg|75px]]
|[[Megan Smith]]
|| 2014–2017
|[[Cori Zarek]], Alexander Macgillivray, [[Edward Felten]], [[Ryan Panchadsaram]]
|| <ref name="whitehouse">{{cite web |url=https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/administration/eop/ostp/about/leadershipstaff/smith |work=[[Office of Science and Technology Policy]] |title=Leadership Staff - Megan Smith |via=[[NARA|National Archives]] |access-date=2017-01-18}}</ref><ref name="washpost">{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2014/09/04/white-house-names-googles-megan-smith-the-next-chief-technology-officer-of-the-united-states/ |title=White House names Google's Megan Smith the next Chief Technology Officer of the United States |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |access-date=August 4, 2019}}</ref><ref name="nyt">{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/04/us/politics/her-task-weaning-the-white-house-off-floppy-disks.html |title=Adviser Guides Obama Into the Google Age |work=[[The New York Times]] |author=Davis, Julie H.|date=2015-01-03 |access-date=2017-01-18}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2015/05/11/white-house-names-dr-ed-felten-deputy-us-chief-technology-officer |work=[[whitehouse.gov]] |title=White House Names Ed Felton Deputy Chief Technology Officer |via=[[NARA|National Archives]] |access-date=2020-01-18}}</ref>
|-
| colspan="2" | ''Vacant''
| rowspan="2" | [[Donald Trump]]
| 2017–2019
| [[Michael Kratsios]]
|
|-
| [[File:Michael Kratsios official photo (cropped).jpg|75px]]
| [[Michael Kratsios]]{{ref|SenateConfirmed2|*}}
| 2019–2021
|[[Lynne Parker]], Winter Casey
|| <ref name="bloomberg">{{cite web |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-03-21/donald-trump-to-name-michael-kratsios-as-white-house-cto |title=Trump Finally Names a U.S. CTO |website=[[Bloomberg News]] |agency=Bloomberg |access-date=2019-05-23}}</ref>
|-
| colspan="2" | ''Vacant''
| [[Joe Biden]]
| 2021-
| Alexander Macgillivray, Deirdre K. Mulligan, Karen Kornbluh, Denice Ross, Austin Bonner, Lynne Parker, Wade Shen, Alan Mislove, Dominique Duval-Diop 
|
|}

==See also==
*[[Chief Information Officer of the United States]]
*[[Chief Technology Officer of the Department of Health and Human Services]]
*[[Science Advisor to the President]]

== Notes ==
:1.{{Note|SenateConfirmed1}}{{Note|SenateConfirmed2}} Only Aneesh Chopra and Michael Kratsios were confirmed by the Senate. Todd Park and Megan Smith were not.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{EOP agencies}}

[[Category:Office of Science and Technology Policy]]
[[Category:American chief technology officers]]
[[Category:Technology evangelists]]
[[Category:Science and technology in the United States]]
[[Category:2009 establishments in the United States]]
[[Category:Agencies of the United States government]]