During a Policy Executive Board (PxB) dinner in December, we were honored to have Congressman Will Hurd (R-TX), Ambassador Rufus Yerxa, President and CEO of the National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC), and Jeff Lambert from the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) join us for a lively discussion on what the next several months may hold for tech policy and larger geopolitical considerations. Each had a distinctive message to share:
- Congressman Hurd shared with the PxB his hope that the federal government can continue to modernize and incorporate important cybersecurity protections. He also noted the value of consistency in personnel in government, citing the importance of the Federal CIO and CISO positions; as well as the need to focus on recruiting and retaining a strong federal cybersecurity workforce.
- Ambassador Yerxa commented on the importance of global trade and the misperceptions that have taken hold in the political arena about the larger benefits of trade to our national economy. That said, our collective conversation did emphasize a need to communicate better about this value proposition, but to also give attention to how we address worker retraining.
- Jeff Lambert shared that state legislatures and governors will likely continue to be quite active in 2017. While most observers expect a more productive federal agenda, the last several years have seen an increase in activity at the state level and there is still much work to be done in that arena.
One theme that seemed prevalent throughout the conversation, was around the tech workforce. In the wake of the election, all of our participants were focused on how we must find ways to engage more Americans in the promise of a good paying job. There are many opportunities through core IT occupations, as well as jobs that require technological literacy and we hope to spend time in 2017 advancing policies that will help more Americans enter a tech career pathway.
