As a part of its ongoing mission, the President's Information Technology Advisory Committee (PITAC) has completed an initial review of the Information Technology for the 21st Century (IT[squared]) initiative and its implementation plan put forward by the participating federal agencies. This letter conveys the initial conclusions of that review. The review included discussions with the leadership for this initiative in the various agencies involved. In the course of the review, consideration was also given to related measures before the Congress. This review centers on the following six points of imperative, on which the letter elaborates: (1) multi-year federal investment in long term IT research for the nation's infrastructure, security, and economic future; (2) effective cross-agency coordination to leverage research needs and results across mission requirements; (3) agency emphasis on advanced applications and enabling middleware; (4) adequate funding for the National Science Foundation to provide access to high-end computing facilities for the general university research community across all areas of research; (5) support for multidisciplinary teams and centers addressing long term, high-risk IT research; and (6) research funding for socioeconomic impact and workforce issues of IT. (MES)