Top Census appointee promises more active role in IT management

President Obama's pick to head the Census Bureau told a Senate panel on Friday that he plans to take a personal role in overhauling its information technology strategy and increase the transparency of its operations. Robert Groves, who currently serves as director of the Survey Research Center at the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research, told the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs that he would have more of a hands-on management style for IT projects than past bureau directors, and he would back initiatives to encourage research and innovation. He also said he has no plans to use statistical sampling in the 2010 or 2020 decennial counts, adding he would resign if asked to institute practices that were politically motivated. "More than that, if I resign, after I resign I will be active in stopping the abuse from outside the system," said Groves, who while serving as associate director of the census in 1990 recommended the controversial practice of statistical sampling be used to conduct the undercount.