Revolving door at tech administration; will NIST hire 600 researchers?

Manufacturing & Technology News, April 4, 2006

Only a day following a March 27 announcement by the Technology Administration of Robert Cresanti's confirmation as Under Secretary of Commerce for Technology--the head TA post--came word that Dan Caprio, who has served as Assistant Deputy Secretary for Technology Policy since July 2004, will leave. Caprio will join the Progress & Freedom Foundation (PFF), which describes itself as "a market-oriented think tank that studies the digital revolution and its implications for public policy." He was to leave TA effective April 7, a Commerce official said.

At PFF, Caprio is to assume two posts: executive vice president, which is a new position, and senior fellow. "I have always admired PFF and benefited from its events and scholarship," Caprio said in the organization's announcement of his appointment. "The insight and knowledge that PFF brings to the digital policy debate has never been more important."

Cresanti, confirmed by the Senate on March 16, will find it lonely at TA. The posts of Deputy Under Secretary for Technology and Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy are currently vacant and, following Caprio's departure this Friday, Cresanti's will be the only one of four TA secretarial positions filled.

With the administration aiming to cut TA's budget from $5.9 million in the current fiscal year to $1.5 million for 2007, it's uncertain how much company Cresanti is likely to have in the future. TA's staff, should the administration's funding request prevail, is slated to shrink from 20 full-time equivalent employees to five.

The announcement from the Commerce Department of Cresanti's arrival states that he will "oversee" the operations of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, which "plans to add an additional 600 researchers."

But that number "isn't quite what it appears to be on the surface," writes a NIST spokesman in response to a query from Manufacturing & Technology News. "It was derived thusly: if you look at the total number of researchers (FTEs and guest researchers from industry, foreign countries and other government agencies) that NIST can support with existing FY 2006 dollars (about 3,300) and extrapolate using the funding that NIST would receive in FY 2007 if the President's proposed budget--including the 12 initiatives--goes through as submitted, then NIST could support a total of 3,900 researchers--or plus 600. Don't put out the 'help wanted' ads just yet. There's a little matter of the budget process to get through first."