Todd M. La Porte

School of Public Policy  
George Mason University  
3401 North Fairfax Dr.  
Arlington, VA 22201-4498  
(703) 993-3351  
tlaporte@gmu.edu

Home  
3215 Morrison St. NW Washington, DC 20015  
(202) 686-7115  
t.laporte@verizon.net

Education

Yale University, Political Science  
M.A., 1984, M.Phil., 1985, Ph.D., 1989

Dissertation: “The Social Organizational Properties of Large-scale Information Networks: Telecommunications and Television Broadcasting in France”

Fields Comparative Politics, European Politics, Policy Sciences and Public Administration

Institut d’Etudes Politiques, Paris, France  
1981-1982

New York University, French Studies Program  
1980-82

Swarthmore College, Sociology and Political Science  
B.A. with Honors, 1980

Teaching and Research

Frank Talbott, Jr. Visiting Associate Professor  
January-May 2006  
Program on Science, Technology and Society  
School of Engineering  
University of Virginia

By invitation, teach a new course on “Politics and Policy in Science and Technology,” and work with faculty and staff on the program’s public policy curriculum and internship programs. Advise students, conduct research, maintain presence on campus three to fours days per week.

Associate Professor (tenure-track)  
June 2000-present  
Visiting Research Associate Professor  
July 1998-June 2000  
School of Public Policy  
George Mason University

Teach and research issues in critical infrastructure protection, homeland security, and organizational strategies for public response to extreme events. Maintain substantial research interests in networked society, large technical systems, information and communications policy, public organizations and institutional change, particularly relating to the Internet. Also maintain research interest in critical infrastructures, institutional capacity and organizational response capability. Emphasis on the international dimensions of organizational and technological change.

Courses  
"Culture, Organizations and Technology"  
“Approaches to International Commerce and Policy” (International Political Economy)  
"Critical Infrastructures, Natural and Technological Disasters, and Public Policy"  
“Information, Technologies, and Institutional Change”  
“Technology Policy and International Strategies: Global Internet Policies and Trajectories”  
“The Global Information Economy: Prospects for Development”

Research  
Research on organization-theoretic approaches to critical infrastructure protection and essential service provision under extreme stress, including terrorist attacks. Large-sample survey research work on public attitudes to vulnerability and public confidence, and experimentation with public participation in policy analysis.

NSF-sponsored project on government use of World Wide Web collects and maintains web-based data and examines diffusion, use, and analyzes organizational implications of Web for public agencies, worldwide. Team has identified a new indicator permitting large- scale cross-national comparisons of bureaucratic and organization behavior with both theoretical and practical use.

Grants  
Subcontractor to University of California, San Diego and Idaho National Labs, curriculum development project, “Critical Infrastructure and Control Systems Security Curriculum: Tools to create a masters level course on the security and resilience of critical infrastructures with emphasis on control systems security” (2006) $6,000.

“Between Fear and Complacency: Sustaining Preparedness and Response Capabilities for Extreme Events.” Exploratory analysis of issues in sustaining social watchfulness to deal with very large-scale extreme events. Funding through School of Public Policy from Mr. Bardyl Tirana, former director of the Civil Defense Preparedness Agency. (2006) $10,000.

Principal investigator, Critical Infrastructure Working Group, George Mason University School of Public Policy: "Critical Infrastructure Protection, Vulnerability and Public Confidence." Analysis from citizens' perspectives, using novel deliberative techniques. Second phase consisted of large-scale public opinion survey. Funding for both phases originated in the Department of Homeland Security. (2004-2005). $165,000.

"Expert Workshop on Private Efficiency, Public Vulnerability: Developing Sustainable Strategies for Protecting Critical Infrastructure," Critical Infrastructure Protection Project, $175,000. Co-PI with Phil Auerswald. Project resulted in edited volume of contributed papers, and own original work, 2006.

"High Reliability Networks, Disaster Mitigation and the World Trade Center: Analysis of Technological, Organizational and Social Factors Affecting Performance of a Critical National Economic Concentration." (2002).

"A Comparative Analysis of Technological, Organizational and Human Factors Affecting Security of Network-Dependent Civilian and Military Infrastructure Clusters: Crystal City and the Washington Navy Yard" (2002).

Funding for both projects jointly provided Critical Infrastructure Protection Project(CIPP), George Mason University School of Law, National Defense University and Dept. of the Navy. $225,000.

Co-principal investigator, National Science Foundation, “Government in Cyberspace” (1996, 2000).  
Prof. Chris Demchak, Univ. of Arizona, co-principal investigator, Prof. Christian Friis, Univ. of Roskilde, Denmark, collaborating investigator. $49,878.

Principal investigator in Pew Project on the Internet and American Life on U.S. Federal Government web operations' openness and effectiveness (2000). Prof. Chris Demchak, Univ. of Arizona, collaborating investigator. $20,000.

Associate Professor (tenured)  
Information and Communications Technology Section  
Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management  
Delft University of Technology                                                                                                                                                                 August 1996-June 1998

Taught and did research in information and communications policy, comparative public policy, infrastructure studies, and technology, organizations and politics. Advised undergraduate and graduate students’ papers, projects, theses and dissertations. Supervised student assistants.

Policy Research and Analysis

Vice President  
Institute for Technology Assessment  
Washington, DC                                                                                                                                                                October 1995-May1996

Co-founder of private, non-profit, technology and policy analysis organization, as private successor to the Office of Technology Assessment.

Analyst  
Office of Technology Assessment, U.S. Congress  
Washington, DC  
November 1989-September 1995

Researched, wrote, and published four major book-length analytical studies on significant policy issues for Committees of the United States Congress. Projects undertaken utilized three to seven team members.

Publications

Edited Volume

Seeds of Disaster, Roots of Response: How Private Action Can Reduce Public Vulnerability, co-edited with Phil Auerswald, Lewis Branscomb, and Erwann Meichel-Kerjan, (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006). Authored chapters 6, 10, co-authored chapters1, 26.

Articles

“The Challenge of Protecting Critical Infrastructure,” in Issues in Science and Technology, Fall2005, co- authors Phil Auerswald, Lewis Branscomb, and Erwann Meichel-Kerjan.

"Cyberdemocracy or Potemkin e-Villages: E-Government in OECD and Post-Communist Countries," co- authored with Ivan Katchanovski, International Journal of Public Administration, special issue on e- government, vol. 28, nos. 7/8, 2005.

“Being Good and Doing Well: Organizational Openness and Government Effectiveness on the World Wide Web,” Bulletin of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, vol.31, no. 3, Sept. 2005, pp. 23-27.

“Democracy and Bureaucracy in the Age of the Web: Empirical Findings and Theoretical Speculations,” co- authored with Martin de Jong and Chris C. Demchak, Administration & Society, vol. 34, no. 4, September 2002, pp. 411-446.

“Webbing Governance: Global Trends across National Level Public Agencies,” co-authored with Chris C. Demchak and Christian Friis, Communications of the ACM, January, 2001.

“Contingencies and Communications in Cyberspace: the World Wide Web and Non-Hierarchical Coordination,” Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management, vol. 7, No. 4, December1999, pp. 215- 224.

“New Opportunities for Technology Assessment in the Post-OTA World,” Technological Forecasting and Social Change, vol. 54, nos. 2 & 3, February/March, 1997, pp. 199-214.

“Technology, Language, and Public Decisions: Finding Common Ground for Experts and Citizens,” co- authored with David D. Jensen, Proceedings, 1996 International Symposium on Technology and Society, IEEE, June 1996.

Chapters

“Webbing Governance: National Differences in Constructing the Public Face,”2^nd ed., co-authored with Chris C. Demchak and Chris Weare, in G. David Garson, ed., Handbook of Public Information Systems, (New York: Marcel Dekker Publishers, 2004).

“Shaping the Information Revolution: The Information Superhighway and Parliamentary Technology Assessment” in Norman Vig and Herbert Paschen, eds., Multivisioning the Future: Parliamentary Technology Assessment in Europe, (Albany: SUNY Press, 1999).

“Webbing Governance: National Differences in Constructing the Public Face,” co-authored with, Chris C. Demchak and Christian Friis, in G. David Garson, ed., Handbook of Public Information Systems, (New York: Marcel Dekker Publishers, 1999).

“Offentlig forvaltning på World Wide Web: Evaluering af åbenhed,” (Public Administration on the World Wide Web: Evaluating Openness), co-authored with Christian Friis,Chris C. Demchak,in K. V. Andersen, C.S. Friis, and Jens Hoff,eds., Informationsteknologi, organisation og forandring: den offentlige sektor under forvandling, (Information Technology, Organization and Change: Transformation of Public Administration), DJØF-forlaget, København, 1999.

“Reflections on Configuring Public Agencies in Cyberspace: A Conceptual Investigation,” co-authored with Chris C. Demchak, and Christian Friis, in Public Administration in an Information Age: A Handbook, I. Th. M. Snellen and W. B. H. J. van de Donk, eds., (Amsterdam: IOS Press, 1998),pp. 225-244.

Reports

“Critical Infrastructure: Citizens’ Views of Protection in the National Capital Region: a Summary of the Citizen Panel on Critical Infrastructure Protection, Vulnerability and Public Confidence,” ch. 14, May 2005, and

“Critical Infrastructure Protection, Vulnerability and Public Confidence: A Report on the Public Opinion Surveys of the United States and the National Capital Region,” ch. 15, September 2005.  
Both chapters are included in final report to U.S. Department of Homeland Security under Urban Area Security Initiative grant #03-TU-03, under the direction of the Senior Policy Group of the National Capital Region, May 15, 2005.

"Organization Studies and Critical Infrastructure Protection," Critical Infrastructure Protection Project Annual Research Review, 2004.

“National Differences in How Governments Use Web Sites,” The Internet Connection: Your Guide to Government Resources, March 1999.

“Hotlinked Government: Evaluating Public Agencies on the Web,” DTO Router, Ministry of Defense, the Netherlands, no. 4, November 1998.

Wireless Telecommunications Technologies and the National Information Infrastructure, U.S. Congress Office of Technology Assessment, June 1995.Surveys wireless technology policy and social issues such as mobility, federal preemption of local land use, privacy and security, health effects, and interference with other electronic devices.

U.S. Telecommunications Services in European Markets, U.S. Congress Office of Technology Assessment, August 1993. Analyzes U.S. services trade dependent on telecommunications networks.

Global Arms Trade: Commerce in Advanced Military Technology and Weapons, U.S. Congress Office of Technology Assessment, June 1991. Examines the global trade in conventional defense and weapons technologies, the U.S. and Allied defense industries and technology bases, and the technology transfer policies which underpin U.S. and Allied defense technology trade.

Arming Our Allies: Cooperation and Competition in Military Technologies, May 1990. Details the government international defense technology cooperation programs and technology sharing arrangements, focusing primarily on relations with NATO allies, Japan and South Korea.

Papers

“Resilience: A Concept in Need of Refinement,” prepared for the Resilience Conference, Leiden University, June 7-9, 2007.

“Governance and the Specter of Infrastructure Collapse,” presented at the National Public Management Research Conference, University of Southern California, October 1, 2005.

"Hotlinked Governance: A Worldwide Assessment, 1997-2001," co-authored with Chris C. Demchak, presented at 6^th National Conference on Researchin Public Management, Bloomington, Indiana, prepared for submission to Journal of Public Administration Theory and Research.

“Democracy and Bureaucracy in the Age of the Web: Empirical Findings and Theoretical Speculations,” co- authored with Chris C. Demchak, Martin de Jong, and Christian Friis, presented at the International Political Science Association meetings, Québec City, Québec, August 5, 2000.

“Minitel and the World Wide Web: Second and Third Order Large Technical Systems,” presented at the European Association of Studies of Science and Technology, panel on the Political Sociology of Large Technical Systems, October 1, 1998.

“Spinning the Web: Constructing Ethnographies of Public Organizations in Cyberspace in Europe and America,” presented at the American Political Science Association meetings, Boston, Massachusetts, September 5, 1998.

“Governance in an Information Age: Values, Structures and Alternatives for Public Agencies in Cyberspace,” co-authored with Chris Demchak, Christian Friis, paper presented to European Consortium for Political Research annual meeting, Bern, Switzerland, February 1997.

“Wireless Telecommunications and Mobility in the National Information Infrastructure,” paper presented to the Computing in the Social Sciences annual meeting, April, 1995. Received award for best paper presentation.

“Cyberspace and Trojan Horses, Cyberspace and Democracy Conference,” conference paper presented at University of Arizona, April 1995.

“Technology Assessment and Large-scale Technologies,” paper presented to and published by IEEE Technology and Society, April 1994. Organized and chaired panel discussion.

“European Defense Industries and Technologies: Challenges to Sovereignty,” paper presented to American Political Science Association annual meeting, August 1992.

“Social Organizational Properties of Technologies,” paper for workshop organized in conjunction with American Political Science Association annual meeting, August 1991.

“Social Organizational Properties of Technologies: Telecommunications and Television Broadcasting in France,” paper presented to American Political Science Association annual meeting, August 1990.

Presentations and Reviews

“Between Fear and Complacency: Sustaining Preparedness and Response Capabilities for Extreme Events,” University of Pittsburgh, conference on Managing the Unexpected, Marcy 3, 2006.

“Governance and the Specter of Infrastructure Collapse,” presentation in Science, Technology and Society Colloquium series, School of Engineering, University of Virginia, January 28, 2006.

Reviewer, National Science Foundation, Program on Science, Ethics and Society, Ethics and Values Studies, October, 2000.

“Measuring Openness in Government Web Operations: Criteria, Findings and Prospects for Electronic Governance,” presentation to the Federal World Wide Web Consortium annual FedWeb meeting, National Institutes of Medicine, April 29, 1999, Bethesda, MD.

Public Administration and the Internet seminar, University of Colorado, September20, 1999. 

“The Internet and Society,” seminar with the Delft Studenten Pastoraat, September 1997.

“Internet and Democracy,” panel discussant and paper commenter at American Political Science Association annual meeting, Washington, DC, August 1997.

“Future of Technology Assessment in the United States,” presentation to Technology Assessment Summer School, Delft University of Technology, September 1997.

Review of the contribution by the Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex, to the U.K. Program on Information and Communication Technology, 1986-96, conducted by the Tavistock Institute for the Economic and Social Science Research Council, June, 1997.

“Wireless Telecommunications Technologies and National Information Infrastructures,” presentation in honor of Prof.ir. Leo Krul, TopTech Studies, Delft University of Technology, May 1996.

“Technology and Politics: Issues for American Democracy,” presentation at American University, September 1995.

“What Makesa Good Technology Good?” and “The Elimination of the Office of Technology Assessment,” presentations at Pennsylvania State University, September 1995.

“The National Information Infrastructure Debate in the United States, and the Role of Wireless Telecommunications Technologies,” and “The Office of Technology Assessment: Situation in the United States,” presentations to European Parliamentary Technology Association conference, The Hague, The Netherlands, September 1995.

“Challenges of Networked Communications to Public Organizations,” presentation to Fourth Annual Computer Ethics Society Conference,” Brookings Institution, April 1995.

“U.S. Telecommunications Services in European Markets: Issues and Options,” presentation to Telecommunications Policy Research Board, October 1993.

“U.S. Telecommunications Services Trade and Policy,” presentation at World Futures Society annual meeting, September 1993.

“Policy Analysis and Technology Assessment,” workshop organized and chaired in conjunction with American Political Science Association annual meeting, August 1993.

Training, Skills and Special Qualifications

Extensive computer and telecommunications network skills. Internet, word processing, spreadsheet, graphics, communications software expertise, Windows and Macintosh O/S. Graphic design skills.

French language fluency (reading, writing, speaking). 

References available on request.