President Obama made his way into office with a tech savvy campaign team and promises to use new technologies to change the way government gets its job done. With the campaign over and the administration under way, shifting rhetoric into action has happened in notable ways but also raised major concerns.

The Center for American Progress held a roundtable discussion Monday with a few of those working inside and outside government to improve Federal impact and navigate some of the hurdles presented by opening government up through technology.

“The Web and the Federal Government grew up in different neighborhoods,” CAP Senior Vice President for Online Communications Andrew Sherry said in his introduction.

Speaking directly on how these two elements from different sides of the track are learning to work together was Alec Ross, Secretary of State Clinton’s senior advisor for innovation, who led the roundtable’s central discussion on 21^st century statehood, and what he termed “Diplomacy 2.0.”

Using technologies such as mobile devices and video represent “a big move forward in how the State Department communicates with the world,” Ross said.

He used as an example the president’s address to Persian speakers of the world in March. The Nowruz message was broadcast across Iran and addressed concerns of the Iranian people and U.S. anti-terrorism efforts.

“What was very gratifying was to see government moving at internet speed,” Ross said of the initiative.

O’Reilly Media’s Tim O’Reilly seconded Ross’s enthusiasm for the potential of technological advancement in government.

“A government is a means of collective action – technology gives us an amazing chance to update that vision,” he said.

Although progress has already been made on a technological front, opening up new lines of transparency and two-way communication with the government does present risks.

While O’Reilly emphasized the idea of the government reaching out to supporters online and leading a two-way conversation, panel moderator Peter Swire, a Senior Fellow at CAP and a law professor, raised concerns about security and bias, saying the government should be wary of lobbyists and personal agendas.

Another challenge raised by panelist Faiz Shakir, director of CAP’s Progress Report and ThinkProgress.org, was bridging the digital divide both in America and aboard.

Panelists agreed that increasing access to information must be a hand-in-hand goal with utilizing technologies.

“It’s a personal priority of mine to think about how our aid programs can accelerate access to the network,” Ross said.

Both Ross and O’Reilly agreed while America is leading the way in internet and social media spaces, we’re far behind countries like Japan and India in utilizing mobile telephony, which O’Reilly believes “will absolutely be the bridge for the digital divide.”

Still, panelists were enthusiastic about new opportunities for government to connect to government, government to connect to people, and people to connect with people through new media tools.

Despite the difficult balance the government must achieve in blending transparency with protection, Shakir emphasized the importance of these early stages in the new administration.

“The first opportunity you get at this is so critical.” he said. “I hope we make sure that we did it right the first time.”