This fellowship program brings tech knowledge to Congress

(Photo courtesy Reboot Congress '17)

When Edward Snowden released thousands of classified NSA documents, Travis Moore was tasked with learning about the information fast. As the former legislative director for U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman, Moore scrambled to find technical expertise on bulk metadata, the NSA’s programs, and the implications of the breach. Ultimately, he had to look outside the halls of Congress.

With tech-related issues continuing to gain importance, the experience left him looking to bring more expertise to the Capitol Hill. Moore created TechCongress, a 13-month fellowship that places technologists either in congressional offices or committees to provide knowledge on various legislation, emerging technologies, and concerns.

From now until September 28, TechCongress will accept applications for next year’s cohort. According to Moore, successful candidates possess three traits:

• Technical ability: Everyone from full stack engineers to self-taught developers are welcome to apply.
• Tech translation skills: "We need people that can explain complex, technical topics—what is personal identifiable information, what is bulk metadata—to a member of Congress that's never logged in to Gmail,” Moore explained.
•  Proven track record of working collaboratively on teams: Working on the Hill often means juggling competing interests and personalities at a fast pace, therefore the TechCongress team has a vetted interest in bringing in expert collaborators.

TechCongress is a young program, having only started in 2015, but they’ve already stumbled upon interesting takeaways. One was the level of veteran interest. In their first year, three of their top five candidates included veterans. Two of them later became inaugural fellows. For 2017, Moore and his team plan to focus on bringing in more veterans and diversifying their program with more female fellows. 

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