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Officials at a 40-year-old Washington, D.C. organization that’s dedicated to studying national and world affairs is urging President-elect Barack Obama to appoint a science and technology advisor whose advice he trusts as an early pre-inauguration act.

 

According to the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Obama needs a science advisor with the knowledge, judgment and experience to help shape effective policies.

 

“The benefits of making the right decisions are enormous – as are the costs of making mistakes,” officials at the center say. “Over the past 60 years, every president has had an advisor on science and technology and an office focused on science and technology.”

 

Though Obama’s priorities clearly will be the recession and wars on terrorism and in Iraq and Afghanistan that he will inherit, what the Illinois Democrat plans to do as far as technology goes – including appointing a Federal Communications Commission chairman and a cabinet-level national CTO – is getting a lot of attention.

 

As TMCnet reported, under Obama’s administration, the VoIP market stands to gain a greater appreciation from the federal agency that regulates communications in the United States, a Washington, D.C.-based attorney who’s worked in telecommunications, media and technology for more than 25 years told TMCnet.

 

According to Andrew D. Lipman of Bingham McCutchen LLP, VoIP also stands to get better carrier interconnection rights and recognition among policy-makers that the telecommunications world is evolving toward Internet telephony.

 

TMC (News - Alert) President Rich Tehrani writes in a blog entry today that Obama’s affinity for technology signals a major shift in the presidency, even though he hasn’t taken office yet.

 

“Love him or hate him, president elect Obama is already changing the presidency by sending emails to communicate with his followers before even taking office,” Tehrani writes. “Since he was elected he has sent a few e-mails including a thank you, a survey and requests to join various support groups.”

 

The ability of Obama to reach out to groups of Americans based on survey data with specific messaging via e-mail makes him quite different than prior presidents, Tehrani says.

 

According to the Wilson Center, the role of scientists and engineers has always been critical to the United States.

 

“Science and engineering are foundations of knowledge upon which new products, services, industries and jobs are built, and upon which sound public policy is crafted,” the center says.

Along with Center for the Study of the Presidency and others, the Wilson Center recently released reports calling for enhanced capacity for science and technology policymaking in the White House. The reports recommend a series of practical bipartisan steps the next president can take to ensure that he can benefit from reliable analyses and advice.

 

“At the top of the list is the early appointment of a nationally respected leader to be science advisor – and restore the position to the rank of the Assistant to the President for Science and Technology,” the center says. “An early appointment will ensure that the president has access to advice on the selection of qualified people to fill additional key scientific positions in his administration and is able to incorporate science and technology into major policy and budget initiatives in a timely and effective way.”