10 Questions For Obama’s Chief Technology Officer

Todd Park, a former Silicon Valley entrepreneur, serves as President Obama’s chief technology officer. His role has taken on heightened importance after several recent developments, including the implementation of the new health care law, efforts to reduce the backlog in Department of Veterans Affairs claims processing, and privacy issues raised by disclosures about data collection by the National Security Agency. Mr. Park spoke with John Harwood of The Times and CNBC at the White House as Mr. Obama publicly challenged his administration to improve the government’s innovation and efficiency in his second term.

What follows is a condensed, edited account of their conversation.

Q. Government has a reputation for being clunky, slow, inefficient. What do you think you have been able to accomplish?