CONTACT: Mary Kate Mezzetti, marykate@opengovfoundation.org | +1-508-776-2789
WASHINGTON, DC (January 23, 2017) — The OpenGov Foundation today released the following statement from Executive Director Seamus Kraft on the news that Matt Cutts has been appointed to serve as Acting Administrator of the U.S. Digital Service (USDS) in the Trump Administration. Cutts had been serving as director of engineering for the USDS under President Barack Obama while on temporary leave from a senior position at Google:
“Matt Cutts is one of the best and the brightest engineers to ever serve in the United States Government. As Washington transitions to a new Administration, Matt’s promotion to Acting Administrator of the USDS is a tremendously positive signal to all those building a better federal government with better technology, data and design: now more than ever, your country needs your talents, creativity and passion for creating modern government that works better for all Americans.
“Cutts’ appointment underscores that the transformational efforts begun under President Obama are working and must continue. Out-dated and paper-based systems, poor public access and service, inefficient bureaucracy, rampant beltway banditry, billions of taxpayer dollars wasted on bad tech every year— these are endemic government problems that know no party affiliation. They must be confronted head-on by the best talent our country has to offer, inside and outside government. Half-hearted half-measures that speak to only half our country won’t cut it, and will only further today’s broken status quo.”
In a blog post announcing the promotion, Cutts linked to a December 2016 USDS report to Congress on what the service has accomplished since forming in August 2014. He also posted the following recruitment video aimed at inspiring other technologists to step away from profit-driven private-sector work for a period of public service.
Watch: “You’ll Never Be the Same Again”
Kraft continued:
“With Matt Cutts at the helm of USDS, with Gerrit Lansing assuming a top tech role in the White House, and with leaders like Robin Carnahan and Dave Zvenyach and more continuing in senior roles at the General Services Administration and across the federal government, we already have some of the best our nation has to offer signed up and serving. Yet a vast amount of work remains, with success demanding an equally significant investment from those of us on the outside. Private-sector tech companies, non-profit tech teams like ours, funders, academic institutions all must step up to support those doing the incredibly difficult work on the inside.
“Now is the worst possible time to walk away from the civic arena. Right now, quitting or hand-wringing— whether as a funder or investor or software developer— means giving up and giving in. That will never happen here at The OpenGov Foundation. And if folks like Matt, Robin, Gerrit and Dave remain committed to building 21st Century governments that work, I am confident that those on the outside with the talents, the time and the funding America needs will continue to step up at this critical time in our nation’s history.”
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