Bush high-tech council to discuss terrorism at first meeting

White House officials will convene the first meeting today of the President's Council of Advisers on Science and Technology to discuss broadband policy, research and development priorities, as well as the role of technology in stopping terrorism and increasing energy efficiency.

Among the high-tech executives expected at the meeting are Autodesk CEO Carol Bartz, Dell Computer Chairman Michael Dell, Intel cofounder Gordon Moore, Microsoft executive Robert Herbold and Proxicom founder Raul Fernandez.

Leading the meeting will be the council's co-chairs, Floyd Kvamme, a partner at the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, and John Marburger, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

The first meeting of the group, which is expected to help guide the Bush administration on technology and science policy, has been a long time coming.

President Bush first announced Kvamme's appointment to the council in March, but the group could not meet until Bush named a science adviser. Marburger was nominated in June and confirmed in the fall. He took over as head of OSTP in late October.

Because the administration did not complete its science and technology team until late this year, a number of high-tech officials privately began to wonder if the White House still cared about the high-tech sector.

One administration official noted that while the Bush team might not have been marketing its technology achievements this year, administration officials have been working on high-tech policy priorities, such as education and trade policy.

Bush is expected to attend a portion of the meeting, and then Kvamme and other high-tech executives will hold a late-afternoon telephone call to formally introduce the members of the group.