The Obama administration announced Thursday that it has hired former Facebook Engineering Director David Recordon as its first Director of White House Information Technology. In the newly created position, he will oversee the tech and tools that the administration has at hand. In a statement, President Obama said Recordon's "ability to deploy the latest collaborative and communication technologies will be a great asset to our work on behalf of the American people." That doesn't mean he'll be picking a new phone for the president, or installing LED light bulbs in the Oval Office — it's more about making sure the administration is using up-to-date tools to communicate with itself and the public, and secure itself against hackers.
At Facebook, Recordon worked on tech governing everything from human resources and video conferences to physical security. If the position works well and whips the White House into better shape technologically, those tools and practices might trickle down to other areas of government, the announcement hinted — though considering some members of Congress have never even sent an email, that may be too much to hope.
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