Technologies for the 21st Century CIC R&D Programs

	Overview National Coordination Office (NCO) for CIC Presidential Advisory Committee CIC R&D Subcommittee Applications Council Technology Policy Subcommittee Federal Networking Council CIC program evaluation Reports about CIC R&D programs
Overview	The National Science and Technology Council's FY 1998 Committee on Computing, Information, and Communications (CCIC) encompasses the Computing, Information, and Communications (CIC) R&D Subcommittee and its five Program Component Areas (PCAs), the Applications Council, and the Technology Policy Subcommittee. The twelve agencies participating in the CIC R&D programs develop computing, information, and communications technologies in close cooperation with academia and industry. The Presidential Advisory Committee on High Performance Computing and Communications, Information Technology, and the Next Generation Internet advises the Administration on the CIC efforts of these agencies and on the future of our Nation's CIC R&D programs.
National Coordination Office (NCO) for CIC	The NCO facilitates multi-agency CIC R&D activities, such as the preparation of planning, budget, and assessment documents and the development of inter-agency CIC programs, and supports the activities of the Presidential Advisory Committee. The NCO Director, who reports jointly to the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), Executive Office of the President, and to the Chair of the CCIC, serves as the chair of the CIC R&D Subcommittee.   The CIC R&D Subcommittee and the NCO meet frequently with representatives from Congress, Federal, state and local organizations, industry, academia, professional societies, foreign organizations, and others to exchange technical and programmatic information about CIC needs, issues, and trends. During past years, the NCO, the CIC R&D Subcommittee, and the Applications Council have sponsored several workshops to promote government-industry interaction and to address technical approaches to meet future architecture and software needs, including the: Workshop on Software Tools for High Performance Computing Systems, October 1996 PetaFLOPS Software Framework Model Workshop, January 1997 Algorithms for PetaFLOPS, April 1997 Workshop on Research Directions for the Next Generation Internet, May 1997 Workshop on Research and Development Opportunities in Federal Information Services, May 1997
Presidential Advisory Committee	Established February 11, 1997 by Executive Order 13035, the Presidential Advisory Committee on High Performance Computing and Communications (HPCC), Information Technology, and the Next Generation Internet (NGI) provides the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC), through the Director of OSTP, with an independent assessment of progress made in Federal computing, communications, and information technology R&D and with advice on initiatives such as the NGI.   Twenty-one industry and academic leaders comprise the Presidential Advisory Committee, which is organized into the Broadbased, High-End, and NGI Subcommittees. The full Committee convened February 27-28, 1997, and June 24-25, 1997. Committee members testified before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation; the House Committee on Science; and the Congressional Internet Caucus. The Committee conducted a review of the NGI initiative and submitted its assessment to OSTP as a letter report.
CIC R&D Subcommittee	Chaired by the NCO Director, the CIC R&D Subcommittee consists of representatives from each participating agency and reports to the CCIC. The Subcommittee and its Executive Committee work with the agencies to plan, budget, implement, and review the multi-agency CIC programs, helping to shape the Nation's information infrastructure. The Subcommittee's five PCA Working Groups meet regularly to coordinate activities and discuss new initiatives.
Applications Council	Established in 1997, the CCIC Applications Council facilitates partnerships between Federal R&D and non-R&D agencies, to promote early application of CCIC-developed technologies within the Federal arena, in particular efforts that involve multiple agencies and disciplines. The Council's Working Groups address crisis management, Federal statistical information, the NGI, and universal access; working groups in geographical information systems and Federal-State-local government interaction are planned for FY 1998. In FY 1997, the Applications Council conducted a Workshop on Research and Development Opportunities in Federal Information Services. The workshop organizers issued a report outlining a digital government agenda focused on advanced information technology pilot projects in Federal agencies. Interaction with the Government Information Technology Services (GITS) Board include a digital government task force.
Technology Policy Subcommittee	The Technology Policy Subcommittee (TPS), formerly the Technology Policy Working Group of the Information Infrastructure Task Force (IITF) Committee on Applications and Technology, assists the CCIC in identifying, addressing, and resolving relevant technology policy issues. The TPS interacts with key industry groups, encouraging technology policy that promotes open architecture, interconnections, interoperability, and standards. The TPS participates in industry conferences, produces white papers on strategic policy issues, initiates projects through its member organizations, provides support and recommendations for legal and regulatory bodies, creates and chairs panels on technology policy issues, and makes recommendations to the CCIC.
Federal Networking Council (FNC)	To achieve greater efficiencies within the CCIC, the R&D activities of the Federal Networking Council (FNC) have been transferred to the LSN Working Group. The FNC's Engineering and Operations Working Group has been succeeded by the Joint Engineering Team for the purpose of integrating the Federal networks that will be part of the NGI. The LSN's Privacy and Security Working Group, formerly part of the FNC, works closely with the Applications Council in piloting security and privacy technologies in Federal applications. Non-R&D activities are being transferred to other Federal organizations (for example, management of the .gov domain space is being transferred to the General Services Administration (GSA)).
CIC program evaluation	Critical analysis of the CIC programs is provided through the Presidential Advisory Committee, Federal and Federally-chartered organizations, industrial and academic organizations, professional societies, conferences, workshops, and reports. For example, recent National Research Council/Computer Science and Telecommunications Board analyses include: "More than Screen Deep: Toward Every Citizen Interfaces to the Nation's Information Infrastructure," August 1997 "For the Record: Protecting Electronic Health Information," March 1997 "The Unpredictable Certainty: Information Infrastructure through 2000," 1996 "Computing and Communications in the Extreme: Research for Crisis Management and Other Applications," 1996
Reports about CIC R&D programs	The NCO responds to thousands of information requests from Congressional offices, industry, academia, and the public each year. To fulfill these requests, the NCO provides print and video materials and maintains Web servers that include all NCO publications since 1994; information on the CCIC and the organizations that report to it; the Presidential Advisory Committee; the Next Generation Internet initiative; Congressional testimonies; links to the servers of participating agencies; and other related information. Last year, individuals from approximately 100 countries accessed the NCO web site.   For the most up-to-date information on CIC programs, the reader is invited to visit http://www.ccic.gov/.