Alec Ross, Senior Advisor for Innovation to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, needs no introduction. He is universally known as “tech guru” for the US secretary in charge of the foreign policy. Ross began his career in Baltimore as a Teach for America corps member, where he taught low-income middle school students. In 2000 he and three of his friends founded the nonprofit One Economy, which was at first located in a basement, and made it the world’s largest “digital divide” (a gap in access to informational technologies between various countries) organization with programs on four continents. Before becoming Ms. Clinton’s advisor, he served as the Convener for President Obama for America’s Technology, Media & Telecommunications Policy Committee and served on the Obama-Biden Presidential Transition Team. Ross was named the 2010 Middle East/North Africa Technology Person of the Year, cited by the Huffington Post as one of “10 Game Changers in Politics,” named a “game changer” as one of Politico’s “50 Politicos to watch” in 2010, and named one of 40 under 40 leaders in international development.
At the same time, he is very frank and unobtrusive when dealing with the public. This writer happened to see his appearance at the US Ambassador’s Forum, where he delivered a speech, “21st Century Statecraft: How the Internet Changes International Relations,” as well as hear his conversation with bloggers.
At the beginning of his speeches Ross always points out that, as is the case with most of the Americans, different bloods flow in his veins, including some of Kyivan origin: his great-grandfather named Rozhansky lived in Kyiv. Ross, who always uses Twitter and Facebook, admits that he feels comfortable among bloggers, when he can put his necktie into the jacket pocket.
He explained frankly why he was offered the current office at the State Department. In his words, Ms. Clinton, as one of the most prominent US secretaries of state, is well aware that the Internet creates a gap, both positively and negatively, so she asked him to minimize the negative consequences of this gap.
“I am working for the Internet to be open throughout the world. I arrived in Ukraine to know how open the Internet is and what threats there are,” Ross emphasized. As is known, Free Internet is one of Hillary Clinton’s most important foreign-policy initiatives. This explains why the Secretary of State’s senior advisor for innovation chose the current itinerary. Ross came to Ukraine from Estonia. He says the government of that country is not going to regulate the Internet. Moreover, he added, 99 percent of banking operations, 82 percent of tax payments, and 27 percent of election votes in Estonia are done via the Net. In Ross’s view, the use of the Internet and greater transparency will help eradicate corruption.
“An open Internet and the ever-decreasing number of secret deals is like a sunray – it is the best disinfector of corruption,” he emphasized. In the IT guru’s view, governments should reduce the information default threshold. Instead of saying: “This information must be closed,” one must do just the reverse. Whether you begin to close or open information is the crucial principle.
Ross believes that the Right-Left confrontation is a thing of the past, and the next 40 years will show a face-off between open and closed societies. Besides, this time span will see a geopolitical shift in the redistribution of power – from large institutions to small ones, including individuals. In other words, governmental power will be diminishing in favor of smaller groups of the population. Ross quoted US President Barack Obama as saying in early October that the strongest foundation for human progress lies in open economies, open societies, and in open governments.
Alec Ross also pointed out that over 40 percent of the US GDP is being produced by the companies that did not exist before 1980. If Ukraine wants to become a global economic leader, it is necessary, Ross thinks, that “out of the 250 students I met at KPI, as many as possible become entrepreneurs and find sources of personal enrichment. And, to this end, the state must create the most favorable conditions for the establishment of companies as well as ensure access to capital and markets.”
Speaking of the relations between the government and social networking sites, Ross emphasized that the authorities should regard social media as an opportunity to heed their society, not as an instrument of propaganda. He cited an example, when Clinton held a press conference via an Egyptian social networking site, where the Secretary of State had to answer rather difficult and unexpected questions of local bloggers. On the other hand, the IT guru noted, social media helped spread disenchantment with the government in Northern Africa, overthrow Ben-Ali in Tunisia and Mubarak in Egypt. “But it is a far more difficult job to establish – via the Internet – a procedure to build a new order,” he added.
On the whole, Ross gained a very positive impression of his visit to Ukraine, which he called “extremely positive and very productive” in his Twitter message. Ross had rather a tight schedule in Kyiv. In one and a half days, he delivered a lecture to students, spoke at the US Ambassador’s Forum, as well as met the leading businesspeople and MPs who use social media, bloggers, and Hanna Herman, Deputy Chief of the Presidential Administration. He still found a few minutes to grant an interview to The Day.
Mr. Ross, judging by your record, you could have carved out a successful career in the private sector. What made you opt for the State Department?
“The point is I believe in civil service. I do not think there is something more important than serving your people. Naturally, I could have made a lot of money in business, but this does not mean I would have realized my potential in a better way. At least in this part of my career, I have an opportunity to do what I am doing now. I listen to bloggers to learn what they need to create a better world. I believe the world will be better if business thinks over what is right for me – provided, of course, that what is right for me has the greatest positive impact on society. For me at this moment, it is working in the government for Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.”
How do you communicate with Ms. Clinton?
“We mostly communicate in Washington. She is a very open and easy-to-access communicator.”
Do you communicate with her via Facebook or Twitter?
“As a matter of fact… (hesitates) I cannot say via which means of communication I maintain contact with her.”
And what is your impression of meetings in Ukraine? Speaking with the bloggers, you said you had had a good talk with Petro Poroshenko.
“I do not want reveal the details of my discussions with those I met in Kyiv. I can say I met here businesspeople, governmental officials, bloggers, journalists, and mass media owners. The idea is to listen to and learn from all these communities. It is not only a chat with representatives of the government and big business, journalists, bloggers, and media owners but also communication of all the five communities.”
As far as I know, you met Hanna Herman, Deputy Chairperson of the Presidential Administration. Do you think she is aware of the necessity to preserve an open society and an open Internet for the sake of Ukraine’s prosperity?
“I can say this: from what I heard, it seems to me that the Internet is open in Ukraine. And I sincerely hope things will remain the same in the future.”
The Russian media are full of reports that Russia is taking a dim view of your visit. They say the US is trying to keep its informational and technological advantages intact in order to impact the world. What will you say to this?
“I am looking forward to my visit to Moscow. I have read this kind of commentaries. Yet I am looking forward to this visit and to a dialogue with the Russians. I will be directly mingling with and listening to them.”
Will you then prepare recommendations for Hillary Clinton?
“Yes, I will be reporting to her and sharing my impressions of Estonia, Ukraine, and Russia.”
