Overview[]
President Clinton established the Advisory Council on the National Information Infrastructure (NII) (also referred to as the National Information Infrastructure Advisory Council (NIIAC)) by Executive Order 12864 on September 15, 1993, to advise the Secretary of Commerce on matters related to the development of the NII. In addition, the Council was set up to advise the Secretary on a national strategy for promoting the development of a NII.
The intent of the NII was to integrate hardware, software, and skills to make it easy and affordable to connect people, through the use of communication and information technology, with each other and with a vast array of services and information resources. Issues that the Council was to address included:
- (1) the appropriate roles of the private and public sectors in developing the National Information Infrastructure;
- (2) a vision for the evolution of the National Information Infrastructure and its public and commercial applications;
- (3) the impact of current and proposed regulatory regimes on the evolution of the National Information Infrastructure;
- (4) national strategies for maximizing the benefits of the National Information Infrastructure, as measured by job creation, economic growth, increased proguctivity, and enhanced quality of life;
- (5) national strategies for developing and demonstrating applications in areas such as electronic commerce, agile manufacturing, life-long learning, health care, government, services, and civic networking;
- (6) national security, emergency preparedness, system security, and network protection implications;
- (7) national strategies for maximizing interconnection and interoperability of communications networks;
- (8) international issues associated with the National Information Infrastructure;
- (9) universal access; and
- (10) privacy, security, and copyright issues.
Within the Department of Commerce, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration was designated to provide secretariat services for the Council.