Inside GAO’s Plan to Make Congress More Tech-Savvy

As lawmakers prepare to weigh in on high-profile tech issues like artificial intelligence, 5G and online privacy, the Government Accountability Office wants to make sure they know what they’re doing.  On March 20, GAO submitted a letter to Congress outlining its vision for the group. The plan, which has not yet been made public, will include specifics on the size and scope of the office. The organization, officially created in Jan, comes as both “an internal merger and a great expansion” of the agency’s science and tech operations, according to GAO Chief Scientist Tim Persons, who will co-lead the office with John Neumann, the agency’s former director of science and technology issues. The group will pull in experts from the agency’s audit and science teams, as well as some new hires, creating a single spot where Congress can access a wide variety of advisory services. By the end of 2019, the office will house some 60 engineers, physicists, data analysts, computer scientists, federal auditors and other diverse specialists. And in the coming years, the staff could potentially double in size.