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Government 'Technophobic' Says Former McCain Advisor

DC should be more innovative, claims Carly Fiorina

Jan 25, 2013 by Dain Fitzgerald

Staff Writer t

Making the case for the technocratic wing of the Republican party Thursday was Carly Fiorina, former CEO of Hewlett-Packard and one-time advisor to John McCain. She warned that the federal government's "technophobia" is grinding its rate of innovation to a halt.

Speaking at a forum dubbed "Innovation for Government Effectiveness" hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Fiorina claimed that DC is run by folks who find technological novelty burdensome, reports Government Executive.

"It's fair to say citizens' expectation for transparency and accountability, and for their own opportunity to participate are rising," she stated. "Government will be providing more services with less money to go around, so the only way is to apply technology in a transformative way."

Fiorina highlighted a handful of innovations worth emulating, such as California's adoption of a privately designed website that allows for more rapid answers to Medicaid applicants seeking to know their eligibility.

But former deputy Defense secretary William Lynn pushed back, saying that not only was government sufficiently adaptive to technology on many fronts - he cited NASA as one example - but also that its role is wholly different than that of the private sector's.

Via Government Executive.

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Jan '13

SomethinsFishy

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Wouldn't say they are technophobic, but under President Obama and Vice-President Biden the government is DEFINITELY "Haplophobic" (from the Greek for fearful of weapons) You might even want to add "Logophobic" (because of their fear of Firearms Research-it does not support the Administration's aims/goals) See the site
assaultweaponsbanof2013 dot blogspot dot com for actual US Department of Justice Reports which you may download free of charge, in their original color.
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o
Jan '13

NTBFW

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It could save us a lot of money.
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Jan '13

DerivePI

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"Translation for Dummies" - If you are unwilling to balance the budget on paper, will it be balanced when you put it on a computer screen?
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Jan '13

Brownie

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Good one. Lol
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Post @Brownie
Jan '13

bsking

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Of course it will, if its on the internet you can take it to the bank....
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u
Jan '13

MaxPain

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@bsking After all she took HP from the top of its game to bargain Basement in a few short years.And all the time telling the sock holders she was doing a Fabulous job for them...Bahahahahahaha how can she be wrong....let me count the ways!!!
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Post @MaxPain
Jan '13
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Jan '13

bsking

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@MaxPain jon corzine.
Democrat governor and Senator.
From the blue state of New Jersey. screwed more shareholders and more blatantly than anything she did.
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o
Jan '13

woodtick57

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i would hope the Gov. wouldn't jump onto every "technological novelty". what if they had spent millions to be more transparent through My Space?

in an industry where half of the new inovations become obsolete in a manner 0of years, this is not an area to jump into willy-nilly and chase every fad...
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Jan '13

bsking

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Yeah but just think how nice it'll be not to have to decide what temperature your home should be.
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Post @bsking
Jan '13

jessejaymes

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The problem with govt going high tech is shown in the millions spent by the Pentagon for a phone APP to tell soldiers when to go on a coffee break. Just boggles the mind.
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Post @jessejaymes
Jan '13

kathyparsell

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They gutted NASA, esentially dismanting it.
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o
Jan '13

woodtick57

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Well, they did trim their budget but NASA is still moving forward with a new heavy lift rocket system to lift people beyond low orbit and our unmannned exploration continues to be the best on the planet.
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Jan '13

RobertJHarsh

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I would reject anything Carly Fiorina says. She nearly destroyed HP and a lot of good people got flushed out of there when she took over. I also think the Republicans need to be more "tech savvy" but the first step is not getting a facebook account. It would be repealing laws like the DMCA.
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Jan '13

DARSB

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The irony of Carly being the voice of technology for the GOP is breathtaking.
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Post @DARSB
Jan '13

jessejaymes

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Didn't Carly run HP into the ground to the point that they were shutting down their entire computer division and they were talking bankruptcy at one point? I don't think this is the one to lead the GOP into the tech age.
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Jan '13

RobertJHarsh

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@jessejaymes Yes...yes she did. I had some friends out there and there was talk of a class action that would have focused on her personally. She destroyed a LOT of lives. Many people, include very rich, had the bottom fell out and many still have not recovered.

Let me put it this way, I would vote for Obama over her, even if he meant he were made president for life. That is how a despicable human being she is. She could give lessons to Hillary on being evil.
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Post @RobertJHarsh
Jan '13

jessejaymes

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@RobertJHarsh Yeah we had a neighbor in our other house before my wife died who was a jr VP or something at HP. They lived the good live. Until Carly. Holy cow the man never stopped bitching about her. That entire company was in disbelief with her.
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Post @jessejaymes
Jan '13

PNWest

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Hopefully Carly will do for the republican party what she did to HP.
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o
Jan '13

woodtick57

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McCain probably already thinks she did....
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Post @woodtick57
Jan '13

PNWest

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@woodtick57 Didn't see advise him to upgrade to using the telegraph instead of the pony express?
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o
Jan '13

woodtick57

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@PNWest

pro'lly just 'lectrocute ourselves with all that newfangled nonesense...
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Post @woodtick57
Jan '13

Brownie

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We just need to stop falling behind on every damn thing from education to technology. We don't want other country to surpass us. I know we're good exploiting countries. But, we need to step our game up. Worrying about guns, abortions and ect. Will not help the economy. Think big, think smart.
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Jan '13

fistv

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Worrying about guns, abortion, etc is just misdirection that the media follows right along with. Tail wagging the dog...
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Jan '13

Zazziness

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Why did they illustrate this with a picture of Cruella DeVille?
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Jan '13

methinks

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You Im-be-ciles!!!
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Post @methinks
Jan '13

WMCOL

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Government of the moment, by the moment , for the moment is probably not the best and wisest way to go. We are already traveling at "Person of Interest" speed, and that just makes it better known that we are flying blind and that most things just sorta happen beyond our control. In other words a lot of numbers don't come up and when they do it is too late.
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Jan '13

jessejaymes

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To date just about any hacker out there who can figure out how to download a free movie or CD has hacked government computers. Might want to worry about security before spending more millions on a phone app to tell troops when to take a coffee break.
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Post @jessejaymes
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Jan '13

Hireman

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Government technology policy in many, if not most cases is horrible. They definitely need to upgrade many of their systems and policies to this century. More efficient technology and help make government more efficient to the extent that it ever will be. Updated and upgraded software and hardware could in very short order drastically decrease costs, give the citizens transparency they want, and reduce errors. She is right on the money with her claims in this case.
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Jan '13

methinks

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I couldn't agree more! Do you know that Medicare claims are transmitted over a dial up modem through Telnet? That 70's Show would feel right at home with this.
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Post @methinks
Jan '13

MadAmerican

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The government is mainly career politicians and corrupt ones at that. With that being said they know nothing of efficiency, so I would have to agree with her.
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Jan '13

harold_lloyd

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The purposes of government are different from those of private enterprise.
They may use some of the same tools and techniques, but they shouldn't try to emulate each other.
But as long as so many Republicans are anti-science, it's hard to see them embracing new technologies.
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Jan '13

Vance1

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Our Government never does any thing well...Use the Post Office or Am Track as your example
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Jan '13

Zazziness

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How about the military? You trust our government with nukes but not a letter?
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Post @Zazziness
Jan '13

Vance1

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@Zazziness
Defiance Against Tyranny
http://patriotupdate.com/2013/01/defiance-aga...
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Post @Vance1
Jan '13

Zazziness

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@Vance1 ???? Kudos. You get The Most Puzzling Non Sequitur Award for today.
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Post @Zazziness
Jan '13

Dan_Tien

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Tell it to DARPA.
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Jan '13

PoliticalSpice

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No need to tell em, they already know.
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Post @PoliticalSpice
Jan '13

Dan_Tien

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@PoliticalSpice Right, they have to make do with a budget of just under $3 billion, while Obama's budget for 2013 allows that "$10 billion will be made available for a nationwide wireless broadband network".
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Post @Dan_Tien
Jan '13

PoliticalSpice

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@Dan_Tien I voted obama, but thag is one reason I support neither party. With unemployment at record levels why not spend ten billion on a govt jobs program instead? Why does all our money go to corporate subsidies? Broadband companies charge hundreds a year for access, let them build their own stuff...
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Is Fiorina right to apply private sector standards to government?

Is Fiorina right to apply private sector standards to government?