Office of American Innovation

Defunct United States government office

This article contains weasel words: vague phrasing that often accompanies biased or unverifiable information. Such statements should be clarified or removed. (February 2025)

|

Office of American Innovation

Agency overview
Formed| March 27, 2017
Dissolved| January 20, 2021
Headquarters| White House
Parent agency| Executive Office of the President of the United States
Former Director Jared Kushner

The Office of American Innovation (OAI) was an office within the White House Office that existed from 2017 until 2021 during the Trump administration. Under Jared Kushner, the office's purpose was to be the liaison between the White House and the American tech industry as part of an effort to reform the federal bureaucracy by applying pragmatic business principles.

## Establishment

[edit]

The Office of American Innovation (OAI) was established by President Donald Trump on March 27, 2017, with the purpose to "make recommendations to the President on policies and plans that improve Government operations and services, improve the quality of life for Americans now and in the future, and spur job creation."[1] The office was to draw on the lessons of the private sector to bring "new thinking and real change" to the country's problems, including the federal government's IT spend, economic activity, and the opioid crisis. According to Politico, the office was intended to be the White House's primary point of contact with the tech industry.[2]

## Personnel

[edit]

OAI was directed by President Trump’s son-in-law and Senior Advisor to the President Jared Kushner,[3][4][5] By July 2017, OAI's operational team consisted of Kushner, Liddell, Reed Cordish, and Matt Lira.[6] Communications were run by Josh Raffel, a former Hollywood public relations executive,[7][8] until February 2018, when Raffel announced his resignation from the position.[9] Between April 2019 to November 2020, Ja'Ron Smith served as the office's Deputy Director.[10][11]

## Activities

[edit]

After its founding in May 2017, OAI convened a summit of more than a dozen tech CEOs, including Amazon's Jeff Bezos, Tim Cook of Apple, Satya Nadella of Microsoft, and Ginni Rometty of IBM. The office was also involved in the Department of Veterans Affairs' purchase of a multi-billion dollar computer system and the administration's executive order on apprenticeships.[2]

In its first year, the office established the Trump Administration's IT Modernization Plan.[12] It also established a Centers of Excellence program within the General Services Administration in December 2017 that encouraged federal agencies to move to the cloud and improve data management. The program was included in the 2019 United States federal budget to implement the recommendation of the IT Modernization Plan.[13]

## Closure

[edit]

The office was closed during the Presidential transition of Joe Biden in 2021, and there were no plans to revive it.[12]

## External links

[edit]

* Office of American Innovation on LittleSis, a website that publishes data on who-knows-who between government, donors and business

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Presidential Memorandum on The White House Office of American Innovation". whitehouse.gov. Retrieved March 19, 2018 – via National Archives.
2. ^ a b Scola, Nancy (July 1, 2017). "What Jared's office actually does". Politico. Retrieved July 23, 2024.
3. ^ Ashley Parker; Philip Rucker (March 26, 2017). "Trump taps Kushner to lead a SWAT team to fix government with business ideas". The Washington Post. Retrieved March 28, 2017.
4. ^ "Trump taps Kushner to lead new White House Office of American Innovation". USA Today. March 27, 2017. Retrieved March 28, 2017.
5. ^ Bender, Michael C. (March 27, 2017). "Kushner to Oversee Office of American Innovation at White House". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved March 28, 2017 – via www.wsj.com.
6. ^ Scola, Nancy (July 1, 2017). "What Jared's office actually does". Politico.
7. ^ Masters, Kim. "Jared Kushner Hiring Hollywood PR Exec for White House Role (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved July 6, 2017.
8. ^ Palmeri, Tara (July 6, 2017). "Trump's aides build their own empires in the West Wing". Politico. Retrieved July 6, 2017. "Senior adviser Jared Kushner has two staffers working directly below him, as well as another five in the newly created Office of American Innovation who are focused on his portfolio of White House issues. Included in that mix is a communications adviser, Josh Raffel, a former Hollywood PR exec who previously repped Kushner's real estate work."
9. ^ Diamond, Jeremy. "Top White House aide linked to Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner is leaving". CNN. Retrieved February 28, 2018.
10. ^ "Annual Report to Congress on White House Personnel 2020" (PDF). whitehouse.gov. June 26, 2020. Retrieved November 24, 2020 – via National Archives.
11. ^ Connolly, Griffin (November 7, 2020). "Ja'Ron Smith, highest-ranking Black Trump adviser, has left the White House". The Independent. Retrieved November 24, 2020.
12. ^ a b Boyd, Aaron (March 23, 2021). "Deputy Federal CIO on Fate of Trump-era IT Policies". NextGov. Retrieved July 22, 2024.
13. ^ Bur, Jessie (March 14, 2018). "Innovation at scale: What has the White House Office of American Innovation accomplished?". Federal Times. Retrieved July 23, 2024.

* v
* t
* e

White House Office

* Chief of Staff
* Cabinet Secretary
* Staff Secretary
* Press Secretary
* Communications Director
* Counsel
* Counselor
* Fellows
* First Lady
* Executive Chef
* Floral Designer
* Social Secretary
* Gun Violence Prevention
* Intergovernmental Affairs
* Legislative Affairs
* Management and Administration
* Oval Office Operations
* Political Affairs
* Presidential Personnel
* Public Liaison
* Scheduling and Advance
* Senior Advisor

* Defunct: American Innovation
* Trade and Manufacturing Policy

* v
* t
* e

Executive actions of Donald Trump

Executive orders|

| 2017|

| January|

* Minimizing the Economic Burden of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Pending Repeal (13765)
* Expediting Environmental Reviews and Approvals for High Priority Infrastructure Projects (13766)
* Border Security and Immigration Enforcement Improvements (13767)
* Enhancing Public Safety in the Interior of the United States (13768)
* Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States (13769)
* Ethics Commitments by Executive Branch Appointees (13770)
* Reducing Regulation and Controlling Regulatory Costs (13771)

|

2019|

| May|

* Imposing Sanctions With Respect to the Iron, Steel, Aluminum, and Copper Sectors of Iran (13871)

|

July|

* Advancing American Kidney Health (13879)

December|

* Combating Anti-Semitism (13899)

2020|

| May|

* Preventing Online Censorship (13925)

|

July|

* The President's Executive Order on Hong Kong Normalization (13936)

August|

* Addressing the Threat Posed by TikTok, and Taking Additional Steps To Address the National Emergency With Respect to the Information and Communications Technology and Services Supply Chain (13942)

2025|

| January|

* Ending the Weaponization of the Federal Government (14147)
* Initial Rescissions of Harmful Executive Orders and Actions (14148)
* Restoring Freedom of Speech and Ending Federal Censorship (14149)
* Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing (14151)
* Holding Former Government Officials Accountable for Election Interference and Improper Disclosure of Sensitive Governmental Information (14152)
* Withdrawing the United States from the World Health Organization (14155)
* Protecting the American People Against Invasion (14159)
* Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship (14160)
* Putting America First In International Environmental Agreements (14162)
* Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government (14168)
* Reevaluating and Realigning United States Foreign Aid (14169)
* Restoring Accountability to Policy-Influencing Positions Within the Federal Workforce (14171)
* Restoring Names That Honor American Greatness (14172)
* Ending Illegal Discrimination And Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity (14173)
* Designation of Ansar Allah as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (14175)
* Declassification of Records Concerning the Assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, and the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (14176)
* Strengthening American Leadership in Digital Financial Technology (14178)
* Removing Barriers to American Leadership in Artificial Intelligence (14179)
* Enforcing the Hyde Amendment (14182)
* Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness (14183)
* Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation (14187)
* Additional Measures to Combat Anti-Semitism (14188)
* Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling (14190)

|

February|

* Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports (14201)
* Imposing Sanctions on the International Criminal Court (14203)
* Ending Procurement and Forced Use of Paper Straws (14208)
* Ensuring Accountability for All Agencies (14215)

March|

* Designating English as the Official Language of the United States (14224)

April|

* Regulating Imports with a Reciprocal Tariff to Rectify Trade Practices that Contribute to Large and Persistent Annual United States Goods Trade Deficits (14257)

May|

* Ending Taxpayer Subsidization of Biased Media (14290)
* Delivering Most-Favored-Nation Prescription Drug Pricing to American Patients (14297)

Presidential memoranda|

| 2017|

| January|

* Federal hiring freeze
* Reinstitution of Mexico City policy
* Withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership
* Revival of Dakota Access Pipeline
* Revival of Keystone Pipeline
* Rebuilding the U.S. Armed Forces
* Plan to defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria

|

March|

* Establishment of the White House Office of American Innovation

August|

* Presidential Memorandum on Military Service by Transgender Individuals (2017)

2018|

| March|

* Presidential Memorandum on Military Service by Transgender Individuals (2018)

|

Presidential proclamations|

| 2017|

| January|

* National Day of Patriotic Devotion, 2017
* National School Choice Week, 2017

|

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template