Notes Tom Kalil, National Economic Council 3/10/94, Fletcher School, Tufts University

[David Farber <farber@central.cis.upenn.edu>]

Tom Kalil, National Economic Council
3/10/94, Fletcher School, Tufts University


Tom Kalil an overview of the National Economic Council (NEC).
The NEC was started to parallel the National Security Council
for the President.  He said that the NEC has several roles:
     o  advisor on economic public policy issues
     o  provide a framework for national economic issues
     o  high-level policy implementation & monitoring


Why is the NII an Administration Policy?
There are many reasons ranging from more jobs and increased
quality of life to increases in research and development.
The policy isn't actually deploying cable, rather they are
promoting the private support of a national network.  The
government provides an advisory and supporting role as well
as making policy that promotes the notion of a National
Information Infrastructure.  The government isn't going to
own or run this network.


Mr. Kalil pointed out that advances in technology have
allowed major advances in microelectronics.


The NII Architecture has a few different aspects:
     o  Applications (manufacturing, etc.)
     o  Services (authentication, etc.)
     o  Bitways (fiber optics, coax, etc.)


The Information Infrastructure Task Force (IITF), chaired by
Congressman Brown, is looking at three main issues:
     o  Telecommunications policy (who are the players?)
     o  Information policy (security, the government wants to
        put out many of the government documents over the NII
        to promote its use)
     o  Applications (this drives the interest of people --
        health care, research, etc.)


The Internet, he said, is a working prototype of what the NII
should look like.  He went over what the Internet is:
     o  worldwide "network of networks"
     o  connects 20 million people
     o  connects 137 countries
     o  etc.


There are many applications on the Internet that the NII
hopes to use as well:
     o  email
     o  conduct business
     o  search & retrieve documents
     o  etc.


He pointed out that the NEC, OMB, Congressman Brown, etc.
meets with Al Gore once a week for breakfast to discuss the
development of the NII.


Tom Kalil then opened up the floor for questions...


Q:  How are security and economic benefits
balanced when export controls for hardware/software change?
Kalil's response was that the Clinton administration is
opening up the computer market for export.  About $30B in
exports was opened up with "no security degradation".


Q:  How does the NII affect U.S.' global competition with
respect to Japan and the European Community?  Kalil said that
the U.S. is really ahead of these countries in the
development of an information infrastructure.


Q:  What is the administration doing to reduce
bottlenecks with regard to the U.S. dependence on foreign
products (e.g. Japanese computer chips)?  Kalil said that the
U.S. isn't going to be completely autonomous.  We'll have
some dependencies on other countries to buy equipment and get
supplies.  Kalil sees this as a good thing.


Q:  How does deregulating foster the NII?  Kalil said that
they're doing this in a number of ways.  Competition is one
of them.  He said that competition is a good thing and
pointed to the AT&T divestiture example -- lower cost, more
investment, more technology (better quality), and more
consumer choice.  We foster this competition by having the
administration challenge telecommunications companies to
provide new "NII services."  He also said that more needs to
be done by these firms than just provide connectivity, and
the administration recognizes this.


Q:  Who has the advantage in this more "chaotic" information
market -- a decentralized market?  Kalil said that this is
definitely the way for the U.S. and other countries to go.
We need to promote interoperability between these companies.
Someone else asked how does the administration promote
interoperability when it may not be in a vendor's best
interest?  Kalil said that interoperability is a need of the
customers.  The customers want things that work with their
other systems and potential systems.  Therefore, vendors will
want to design for interoperability because of consumer
demands.


Q:  Is the NII really going to be an open network?  Kalil
said that yes, it will be open.  We're already seeing trends
like the adoption of ATM across industries.


Q:  What is the feeling of the NII between Congress and NEC?
Kalil said that the Hill is more interested in opening up the
telecommunications industry -- especially between cable and
the RBOCs.  The Hill is trying to mediate these industry
conflicts.  Plus, Congress is interested in universal access,
etc.  A participant added that the broadcasters are
other players in this battle on the Hill; for example the
HDTV players.  Kalil told the story of the HDTV fight to get
a hold of the spectrum that Markey's Bill may put up for
auction.  He specifically mentioned Russ Neuman's and MITUs
work in responding to Markey's 14 questions.


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notes taken by Joe Bailey, MIT, Program on Communications and
Media Policy