To compete and thrive in the 21st century, democracies, and the United States in particular, must develop new national security and economic strategies that address the geopolitics of information. In the 20th century, market capitalist democracies geared infrastructure, energy, trade, and even social policy to protect and advance that era’s key source of power—manufacturing. In this century, democracies must better account for information geopolitics across all dimensions of domestic policy and national strategy.
For the first several years of the National Science Foundation Digital Government research program, support focused exclusively on technical pilot projects. As time has passed NSF leaders, and other decision makers in the federal government, have begun to realize the need to support research concerning how information technologies are brought into government, the factors that influence whether they fail or succeed in their goals; and, in general, how information technologies affect government organizations and civic discourse. The award that launched the National Center for Digital Government provides NSF the opportunity to move very strongly into this new area of research and policy.