What do politicians know about technology? For the most part, only what their advisers tell them - which explains the growing influence of science and tech whizzes in Washington. They wield serious power, guiding policy and legislation on everything from missile defense and the Microsoft monopoly to file-trading and wireless standards. Meet four of the heaviest hitters.
Donald Kerr
Deputy director for science and technology, CIA
ADVISES: CIA director George Tenet
WHY HE MATTERS: Equips US spies with latest surveillance tech. His current priority is nailing Osama and Saddam.
TECH CRED: Cut his teeth as a Los Alamos physicist in the '60s, developing a method for nuclear test detection based on disturbances in Earth's ionosphere.
ON HIS RADAR: Detectors that use radio waves in the terahertz spectrum to see through walls and look inside packages.
GADGET HE CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT: The PC. "There are lots of interesting handheld devices, but I just don't find them that useful."
Ron Sega
Director, Office of Defense Research and Engineering, DOD
ADVISES: Defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld
WHY HE MATTERS: Responsible for bringing the missile shield to life.
TECH CRED: IEEE fellow and NASA astronaut who used to teach electrical and computer engineering at the University of Colorado.
ON HIS RADAR: Dominating outer space through hypersonics. He foresees superfast missiles and spaceships that can zap any target. His goal is to increase US flight capabilities by one Mach a year until 2012.
GADGET HE CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT: It's a tie between his cell and his BlackBerry, both government-issue.
Andy Setos
President of engineering, Fox Group
ADVISES: Representative Billy Tauzin (R-Louisiana) and Senator Fritz Hollings (D-South Carolina)
WHY HE MATTERS: Coinvented the broadcast flag for digital TV copy protection. Pals in Congress are trying to push the idea into law.
TECH CRED: As senior engineer at MTV's launch, he pioneered the use of stereo sound in television.
ON HIS RADAR: Personal digital networks, which would allow consumers to shuttle media files from PC to set-top box to handheld - but not to Kazaa.
GADGET HE CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT: Omega self-winding watch, just like the Apollo 13 crew wore.
Ed Thomas
Chief, Office of Engineering and Technology, FCC
ADVISES: FCC chair Michael Powell
WHY HE MATTERS: From ultrawideband to 3G, he tells the FCC which signals can be squeezed into which slice of the spectrum.
TECH CRED: Former Bell Labs engineer who later went to Nynex and led experiments to set cell phone standards.
ON HIS RADAR: Software-defined radio, which allows mobile phones to adjust their signals to local standards, whether in Paris, France, or Paris, Texas.
GADGET HE CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT: Wi-Fi router. "I have more computers in my house than some research facilities."
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