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>From "Prospectives on the National Information Infrastructure: CSPP's 
Vision and Recommendations for Action"

Part II: Recommendations for Action [pages 14-16]

	By investing in the HPCC Program, the United States has 
already begun investing in the research for an infrastructure based on
high speed networks, high performance computers, and on-line 
information.   CSPP will continue to work with Congress and the new 
Administration to implement our recommendations to improve the 
structure of the HPCC Program.   However, we must now make a national 
commitment to take the next step to develop a new national information
infrastructure that will provide us with the best opportunity to 
compete in the global economy of the future.

	Through a public and private partnership to develop and deploy
a national information infrastructure, we will not only lay the best 
foundation for remaining internationally competitive, we will also give 
ourselves the best chance to solve many of our domestic challenges -- 
the declining quality of education, the skyrocketing cost and limited 
availability of high-quality health care, and the need for businesses 
of all sizes to increase quality and productivity -- which 
increasingly require the ability to access and use large amounts of 
distributed information.

	The time to act is now.   Creating a national information 
infrastructure of the future will require improving upon and linking 
together current communications, computing, information, and human 
resource capabilities.   More importantly, it will require developing 
new capabilities to enable broad access by millions of Americans to 
public and private information resources and to enable people to 
generate, transmit and receive text, images, and video anywhere, at 
any time.

	Before the comprehensive information infrastructure of the 
future can be realized, a broad cross-section of American industries, 
academic and research institutions, and the federal government need to
agree on a common vision for the effort.   With a common vision in 
place, the private and public sectors can make a commitment to do what
they need to do, independently or together, to make the vision a 
reality.   While the private sector has primary responsibility dor 

reality.   While the private sector haces, products, networks, and 
applications to make the infrastructure possible, the federal 
government has an important role as a catalyst in stimulating the 
effort and creating a regulatory environment that will encourage 
private sector investment and implementation.

	To accelerate the development and deployment of a national 
information infrastructure, CSPP recommends that the Administration, 
Congress, and the private sector begin a joint effort to take the 
following actions:

               ADMINISTRATIVE AGENDA

1. MAKE THE NII A NATIONAL TECHNOLOGY CHALLENGE:   The President 
should declare the national information infrastructure a new national 
technology challenge.   The President should, in his State of the 
Union address and his FY94 budget submission, issue a challenge to 
Congress, industry, academic, and research institutions, and potential
users to work with him to create a new information infrastructure.

2. ESTABLISH A NATIONAL INFORMATION INFRASTRUCTURE COUNCIL:   The 
successful development and deployment of a national information 
infrastructure will be contingent upon the government adopting a 
vision and a strategy for its implementation.   The best way to 
accomplish these objectives is to establish a National Information 
Infrastructure Council, chaired by the Vice President, to provide a 
management focus for the effort.   Members of the Council should 
include the Secretary of Commerce, the Director of the Office of 
Science and Technology Policy, the Chairman of the Federal 
Communications Commission, and the heads of other federal departments,
agencies, and White House Executive Offices who have roles or 
responsibilities in the information infrastructure, and private sector
experts, including representatives of industry, user groups, and 
research institutions.   The Council should have as its initial 
responsibilities:

   * adopting a vision for an NII;

   * working with the private sector to develop and adopt several 
     concrete goals for the NII, with accomplishable milestones;

   * coordinating the NII activities of the various government 
     agencies and departments; and

   * developing a strategy to address the information infrastructure
     policy principles listed following these recommendations.

3. ESTABLISH AN NII IMPLEMENTATION ENTITY:   Establish a federal 
entity to implement the National Information Infrastructure Council's 
vision, plans, strategies, recommendations, and other directions.   
The entity should have the responsibility and authority to:

   * manage and focus the NII research agenda, including research 
     performed by the national labs;

   * coordinate, in conjunction with other appropriate agencies and
     departments, the NII technology demonstrations; and

   * develop strategies to overcome policy and regulatory barriers
     affecting the deployment by the private sector of a national
     communications network of interoperable, interworking networks.

4. INVEST IN RESEARCH FOR AN NII:   The FY94 budget request should 
include funds for precompetitive, generic research on enabling 
technologies for an NII, such as the following:

   * research on the generic, enabling technologies needed to address 
     challenges in health care, education, and lifelong learning, and
     intelligence manufacturing;

   * research on the scalability problems associated with aggregating 
     many high, medium, and low speed users;

   * technologies and architectures to ensure the security of 
     information available in an NII and to guarantee privacy of 
     information;

   * interoperability;

   * integrity and robustness of networks and databases;

   * human/computer interfaces, such as speech and handwriting 
     recognition and machine intelligence; and

   * research on creating and managing distributed electronic databases
     and libraries, such as indexing databases, digitizing libraries,
     and organizing material.

5. FUND PILOT PROJECTS TO DEMONSTRATE TECHNOLOGIES:   In conjunction 
with industry, the federal government should fund projects to 
demonstrate the application of high performance computing and 
communications technologies to health care, education  and lifelong 
learning, and manufacturing.   Such projects will help solve problems 
in scaling technologies and accelerate development of standards.

6. DEVELOP A PUBLIC EDUCATION PROGRAM.   Request the National Research
Council of the National Academies of Science and Engineering to 
develop, in conjunction with the private sector, a program to educate the 
general public about the potential benefits of an NII and the impact 
it will have on their lives.

7. MAKE GOVERNMENT INFORMATION EASILY ACCESSIBLE:   An information 
infrastructure could provide federal, state, and local governments 
with a system to better serve their citizens while reducing the cost 
of providing those services.   Through a national information 
infrastructure, people would have ready access to the most up to date 
information about their entitlement to health, education, housing, and
social security benefits.   Citizens could, for example, use the 
infrastructure to register to vote, renew their drivers licenses, and 
pay their taxes.   The National Research Council should assess federal
information collection and dissemination policies and practices and 
make recommendations on how such policies and practices should be 
changed to make public information easily available and accessible to 
citizens through the NII.   The NII implementation agency should be 
charged with developing a strategy to implement the recommendations 
across all affected departments and agencies.


               LEGISLATIVE AGENDA

1. AUTHORIZE A NATIONAL INFORMATION INFRASTRUCTURE COUNCIL AND 
APPROPRIATE FUNDS FOR ITS OPERATION:   Introduce legislation to 
authorize creation of a National Information Infrastructure Council to
oversee development of the NII and appropriate funds for its 
operation.

2. AUTHORIZE AND APPROPRIATE FUNDS FOR RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY 
DEMONSTRATIONS:   Introduce legislation, based on the Information 
Infrastructure and Technology Act of 1992, to authorize research on 
NII technologies and demonstration projects in health care, education,
and manufacturing, and appropriate funds for such projects.


               INDUSTRY AGENDA

1. CONTINUE INVESTMENTS TO DEVELOP AND DEPLOY AN NII:   The US 
computer industry is investing billions of dollars each year in 
research and development relevant to an NII.   Industry must continue 
to work to develop and deploy the NII, including:

   * deployment of interoperable communications networks;

   * development of on-line databases and applications;

   * development of easy to use computers and information appliances; 
     and

   * training people to design, develop, and use the various elements 
     of the infrastructure.

2. CONTINUE TO INVEST IN RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT OF APPLICATIONS:   
Companies must continue independent and collaborative efforts to 
invest in research on NII technologies and development of new products
and services.

3. REACH OUT TO OTHER INDUSTRIES:   CSPP will initiate a project to 
encourage other industries likely to benefit from the applications 
made possible through an NII to join the effort to achieve an NII.

4. PROMOTE NII EFFORTS:   A wide range of affected industries should 
form a non-profit group to work with the National Research Council to 
promote the NII.

5. DEVELOP AND PARTICIPATE IN PILOT PROJECTS:   Industry should 
undertake an effort to develop strategic plans and facilitate the 
formation of teams to design technology demonstration projects in 
health care, education and lifelong learning, and manufacturing.

6. DEVELOP NII GOALS AND MILESTONES:   The private sector will work 
with the Infrastructure Council to develop specific examples of 
accomplishable goals for an NII, with concrete milestones, such as, 
for example, a nationwide system of on-line patient records accessible
by any authorized health care professional, anywhere; and all small 
and medium manufacturing companies networked with the manufacturing 
extension centers.

[End of Recommendations]


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