Where Is Biden’s Chief Technology Officer?

The result, according to tech industry leaders and former federal officials, is that the administration is left without a point person to lead key artificial intelligence and data initiatives, and is lacking a unified voice to articulate the benefits of technology in government.

“It’s frankly very disappointing. … It shouldn’t have taken this long, ” said Robert Atkinson, president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a D.C.-based think tank that receives funding from tech companies including Alphabet, Microsoft and Amazon. (Amazon founder Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post.)

Atkinson, who served on a policy committee for Biden’s presidential campaign, said advisers presented Biden’s team with numerous candidates for the role. He argued the failure to pick from a broad pool of talent shows a lack of urgency.

“It's not hard to get a CTO. It really isn't,” he said. “The challenge is they just haven't made it a priority. They could easily have done this a year and a half ago if they wanted to.”