中情局前首席技术官：我最赞赏贝佐斯

    最近，格斯•亨特辞去了美国中央情报局（Central Intelligence Agency）首席技术官的职务，开始在旧金山风险投资公司Artis Ventures担任顾问。

    亨特在美国中情局工作了28年，他把让政府跟上席卷硅谷的技术创新速度作为自己的使命。他注意到，从创意提出到政府执行的周期过长，所以，为了帮助自己的组织保持对相关领域的了解，亨特会与风险投资人联系，听取他们对于新兴技术的见解。正是在这个时期，他在CIA看到了大数据分析和云存储的潜力，于是他建立了一个高度安全的政府云，帮助员工更快地转移信息。

    亨特加入CIA之前曾在罗克韦尔国际公司（Rockwell International）担任航空工程师，负责建造航空飞机。他拥有范德堡大学（Vanderbilt University）的土木工程硕士学位。58岁的亨特向《财富》杂志（Fortune）讲述了他对未来科技的看法，从职业中学到的经验教训，以及自己空闲时间的活动。

    1. 你最赞赏哪一位科技界人物？为什么？

    亚马逊（Amazon）的杰夫•贝佐斯。我喜欢他，是因为他总是专注于创新，致力于进行前瞻性投资。他彻底颠覆了零售行业，而许多人曾经认为这是不可能完成的任务。他们正在非常高效地利用规模经营。而就其核心而言，亚马逊的基因就是如何在薄利多销的同时，在市场中取得成功。

    大家不妨看看在这个过程中诞生的亚马逊网络服务（AWS，Amazon Web Services）。凭借这完美的一击，亚马逊成功杀入云计算领域。如何在以低利润卖出这么多计算能力的同时，依然能够取得成功并从中获利？亚马逊人很清楚如何做到这一点，因为他们拥有丰富的零售经验。

    我赞赏贝佐斯的另外一个原因在于，当华尔街和其他人急切追求利润而不是对未来进行再投资的时候，他有勇气坚持己见。收购《华盛顿邮报》（Washington Post）之后，他必将在媒体行业的变革中扮演重要的角色。

    2. 你赞赏哪家公司？为什么？

    基因测定服务公司23andMe。我尊敬她（安妮•沃西基）。因为她的努力，人们现在可以获得和了解自己的基因构成。美国食品和药品管理局（FDA）针对我访问自己基因档案的权利所做的裁定让我非常失望。我很不理解。我坚信，基因组的使用是好事，而是否要知道和获得自己的基因结构，应该由每个人自己决定。我认为，这家公司做了许多努力来推动这方面的进展。

    另外，我认为谷歌公司（Google）也是一家了不起的公司，这一点无需赘言。我可以随时通过它找到海量信息。读大学的时候，所有信息都被藏在图书馆里，那时候还没有从亚马逊买书这回事。谷歌实现了信息平等，还找到了新的参与机制。仅凭这两点，我认为他们就值得称赞。

    3. 对希望从事你这一行的人，你有什么建议？

    读书，学习，成为一名持续学习者。否则，你会彻底错过这个世界的精彩。必须始终关注周围发生的事情。要培养好奇心和学习的欲望。要走出自己的舒适区，勇于承担困难的工作。只有这样才能不断成长。你或许并不知道如何才能做好某些事情，但也要有敢于涉足的勇气。它会让你有机会去创造自己的空间，而不是沿袭别人的老路。

    Gus Hunt -- who, as of February, has taken on an advisory role at the San Francisco-based venture capital firm Artis Ventures -- recently retired from his position as the chief technology officer of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.

    In the 28 years that he spent at the CIA, Hunt made it his mission to bring the government up to speed on technological innovations that were sweeping across Silicon Valley. He noticed that the cycle from idea to implementation for the government took too long -- so to help his organization stay relevant, HuntIA would make connections with venture capitalists who could give him early insight on up-and-coming technologies. It was during this time that he saw the potential for big data analysis and cloud storage in the CIA, so he went to work on building a highly secure government cloud that helped employees transfer information quicker.

    Before he joined the CIA, Hunt was an aerospace engineer for Rockwell International where he built space shuttles. He holds a master's degree in civil engineering from Vanderbilt University. Hunt, 58, spoke with Fortune about what he sees for the future of technology, what he's learned throughout his career, and what he does in his free time.

    1. Who in technology do you admire most? Why?

    Jeff Bezos of Amazon. I love his intense focus on always trying to innovate and his commitment to forward-thinking investment. He's completely reinvented the retail space, and a lot people wondered if that was even possible. They're so effective leveraging scale. At its core, Amazon's DNA is all about how to be successful in markets where you sell lots of goods at really thin margins.

    If you look at the invention of AWS [Amazon Web Services] that came out of that, that's a perfect play for them into the cloud world. How do you sell a lot of computing capacity at really thin margins and still be successful and make money on it? They knew exactly how to do it, based on their retail experience.

    Another thing that I really respect him for is the courage to push back on Wall Street and others when they've tried to force a push for profits instead of reinvesting to build in the future. And with the acquisition of the Washington Post, he will also be an important part of reinventing the media space.

    2. Which companies do you admire? Why?

    23andMe. I respect her [Anne Wojcicki's] drive to allow people to have access to and understand their genetic make-up. I was very disappointed with the FDA ruling regarding my right to access my personal genetic profile. I just couldn't understand that. I'm a firm believer that use of the genome is a good thing, and that the decision to know about it and have access to it should be up to the individual. I thought they had done an enormous amount of good to try to get that moving forward.

    It also goes without saying but I think Google is a terrific company. I have so much information at my fingertips. When I was in college, everything was locked away in a library, and books delivered from Amazon didn't exist. To make information egalitarian and find new mechanisms of engagement, I think they deserve a lot of credit.

    3. What advice would you give to someone who wants to do what you do?

    Read, study, and be a continuous learner. If you're not, I think this world is going to pass you by in a big way. You have to constantly pay attention to what's going on. You have to foster a desire to be curious and to learn. You have to take and do hard jobs that are outside of your comfort zone. That's how growth occurs. Have the courage to step into something that you may not know how to do really well. It allows you the opportunity to invent that space as opposed to inheriting a space.