March 2009

The nominations of two of President Obama's top science advisers have stalled in the Senate, according to several sources, posing a challenge to the administration as it seeks to frame new policies on climate change and other environmental issues. Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) has placed a "hold" that blocks votes on confirming Harvard University physicist John Holdren, who is in line to lead the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and Oregon State University marine biologist Jane Lubchenco, Obama's nominee to head the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. According to sources who asked not to be identified because they were not authorized to discuss the matter, Sen Menendez is using the holds as leverage to get Senate leaders' attention for a matter related to Cuba rather than questioning the nominees' credentials. The delay -- which could end quickly if Sen Menendez dropped his objection or Senate leaders pushed for a floor vote that would require 60 votes to pass -- has alarmed environmentalists and scientific experts who strongly back Holdren and Lubchenco. They had a relatively friendly hearing before the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee on Feb. 12, and an administration official said yesterday that he anticipated the nominations would make it to a floor vote.

According to Joel F. Brenner, national counterintelligence executive and mission manager for counterintelligence for the director of national intelligence, in the new electronic information world, your cellphone or BlackBerry can be tagged, tracked, monitored and exploited by a foreign intelligence service between the time you disembark from a plane in that country's capital and the time you reach the airport taxi stand. Cellphones, he said, are great devices for sharing information, "but the mike can be turned on when you think it is off." An iPod's ear buds can be converted to a recording device when not in your ears. Brenner described thumb drives as "the electronic equivalent of unprotected sex" and the biggest source of what he calls "ETDs," or electronically transmitted diseases. Those vulnerabilities are increasingly exploited in the intelligence world as demand increases for the sharing of collected information and the resulting analysis. Brenner noted the countervailing pressures within the intelligence community and society in general to share intelligence as well as restrict it. The "propeller heads" who invent new "cool" ways to transfer information in the intelligence world, Brenner said, are similar to those in civilian companies: They believe in openness, not secrecy, and therein lies the problem.

[Commentary] Lost in the past month's dismal array of facts and figures was another number that actually tells a remarkably positive story. The world now has 4 billion mobile phone connections, according to the group that represents virtually all of the world's mobile phone carriers, the GSM Association. That number is up from just 100 million a decade ago, and most of that growth is in developing countries. Keep in mind that there are 6.8 billion people on the planet. Why is 4 billion an important number? For starters, it represents the majority of humankind talking to one another, sharing ideas and buying things. Second, amid the current "whither capitalism" headlines and calls for heightened regulation, it is a reminder of what can be achieved in free and open markets that promote competition. We didn't reach 4 billion connections by accident. We got there because governments implemented market reforms that allowed new carriers to enter previously protected telecom markets and to compete on price, service, and coverage. By opening up their markets to innovation and competition, developing countries attracted investors. Those investors put their money into infrastructure and training, resulting in millions of new jobs. It is through competition, not regulation, that billions of cellphone connections will soon be joined by billions of wireless Internet connections - connections to critical services such as medicine and education. If governments continue to promote these developments by allocating sufficient new spectrum and allowing entrepreneurs to build and operate competitive networks, millions of jobs will be created, economies will grow, and the free flow of information will empower those seeking a better future for themselves and their children.

[David A. Gross is a former US ambassador, serving as the US Coordinator for International Communications and Information Policy. On March 16 he will join the Washington law firm Wiley Rein LLP.]

President Barack Obama officially announced his intent to nominate Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius as Secretary of Health and Human Services. In this role, Sebelius will oversee a department with wide-ranging responsibilities essential to the American people, including the implementation of the President's vision for health care. As Secretary of Health and Human Services, Sebelius will work with Democrats and Republicans alike to cut costs, expand access, and improve the quality of health care for all Americans. Nancy-Ann DeParle, one of the nation's leading experts on health care and regulatory issues, will serve as Counselor to the President and Director of the White House Office for Health Reform. As commissioner of the Department of Human Services in Tennessee, she saw firsthand the health care system's impact on workers and families. In the Clinton Administration, DeParle handled budget matters for federal health care programs, and took on the tremendous task of managing Medicare and Medicaid.