I would caution the administration's advisors and decision makers in these regards, and have in my own indirect way already done so, about chasing starbursts and wallowing in its own champagne fizzle, and at the same time targeting dollars at narrowly defined goals as though prescribing the perpetuation of silos.
The very notion of creating a streamlined national infrastructure with silos and purporting to shape it so that's its more conducive to international competition, for example, has some hidden, and some not so hidden flaws in it, right off the bat. One could even argue that over the longer term it's self-contradicting on its face, especially if sustainable jobs are expected to result from these first-order initiatives.
Of course, to offset this, new opportunities should be fostered over the longer term if the right groundwork is implemented now, by which I mean it would largely depend on the areas in which dollars are being spent during the shorter term. "Make-work" projects can only backfire if they are not carefully designed and deliberately executed to be generative in nature, as opposed to being a one-time shot in the arm. And training programs count in a paramount way here too if they are similarly aligned with transectoral principles, but this is a subject for another thread.
In fairness, I should note that ample opportunities have been facilitated by way of public comment for citizens to air their opinions and voice their preferences in a public way. But after examining some of the subtleties that are at work, I've gotten the sense now, not entirely but it's getting there, that it's really come down to this:
"Here's a Web site that you can use to confuse us with facts, since we already know pretty much what we want. If one or two of you free-thinkers do manage to sneak through the cracks, don't be surprised, since we've already made allowances for this in our awarding mechanisms and distribution curves."
The more I look at the individual packages and the opportunities they espouse, the more prominently the silo dynamic stands out. But it's still early in the week. Maybe what's needed in addition to a National CTO is a National CHTO, i.e., a Chief Holistics and Transectorality Officer, as well.
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