Washington – Kushner Makes Rare Public Remarks At White House Tech Summit

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    White House senior adviser Jared Kushner, left, with the assistance of Assistant to the President Chris Liddell, right, tries to quiet the audience so he can speak at the opening session of the White House meeting with technology Chief Executive Officers to mark "technology week," Monday, June 19, 2017, in the Indian Treat Room of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House complex in Washington. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)Washington – Technology CEOs were urged by the White House on Monday to pitch in on President Donald Trump’s effort to modernize government.

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    Apple CEO Tim Cook and Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Google parent company Alphabet, were among those attending an afternoon of working groups on issues like technology infrastructure, cyber security and visas for foreign workers.

    The gathering was the first event for a technology-focused effort within the White House Office of American Innovation, which seeks to overhaul government functions using ideas from the business sector.

    Jared Kushner, senior adviser and son-in-law to Trump, welcomed the technology executives, calling them “a very impressive group of leaders from the private sector” being put to work “on some of the country’s biggest challenges that will make a very meaningful difference to a lot of its citizens.”

    Also on hand was Trump’s daughter and Kushner’s wife, senior presidential adviser Ivanka Trump
    Apple CEO Tim Cook (L, in doorway) joins fellow tech company leaders at a summit of the American Technology Council at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, U.S. June 19, 2017.  REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
    Kushner said that while he had been warned that government change could be slow, he has found “exactly the opposite” and praised the “talented civil servants” he is working with. He also cited some examples of the current technology infrastructure, noting the use of floppy discs in Pentagon “legacy systems.”

    Some technology executives have clashed with Trump over his decision to exit the Paris climate accord. Leaders at Apple and Google were among the American corporate executives who appealed to the president to stay in the pact.

    Chris Liddell, a White House aide who directs the technology effort, said the executives would participate in a series of working groups, concluding with a session with Trump.

    White House spokesman Sean Spicer said the administration was focusing on technology this week. He said there was “a lot of room for optimization in the federal government.”


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    3 Comments
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    6 years ago

    I am not sure what all this high tech talk is all about. But what about more government automation and collaboration among agencies? I should be able to go online, apply for medicad and have medicad automatically upload my tax returns and income from the IRS without a human reviewing it. Police dpeartments and the FBI should be linked. We need to run our government like an efficient business.

    6 years ago

    Mazel Tov; I never realized that Kushner knew how to speak, as this was the first time that I heard him speak.

    6 years ago

    So he does hava tongue. Nice to see.