State Department names new tech policy lead
In the wake of a decision to eliminate a special coordinator for cybersecurity issues, the department has tapped a key Hill staffer for a new deputy assistant secretary post.
The State Department of State has a new technology policy lead.
Robert Strayer, formerly a top aide to Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), is the new deputy assistant secretary for Cyber and International Communications and Information Policy.
In late August, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told Corker, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, that he was realigning the position of the department's Coordinator for Cyber Issues. The duties of that position, along with others such as U.S. Coordinator for International Communications and Information Policy and the Senior Coordinator for International Information Technology Diplomacy, were transferred to the Bureau of Economic & Business Affairs. The cyber coordinator position involved 23 supporting positions and just under $5.5 million in funding that was moved to the Economic Bureau.
The Computer & Communications Industry Association applauded the Strayer hire, but wants to see the post imbued with more authority. Ed Black, CCIA president, said he hoped Strayer "receives an Ambassadorship to aid him in advocating on behalf of the digital economy."
"It is strategically important to ensure the U.S. has a strong voice at the table as key negotiations take place on issues from trade to tech policy, which impact the growth of the fastest growing sector of the U.S. economy at home and abroad," Black said.
Strayer is former general counsel for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and former director of the Bipartisan Policy Center's Homeland Security project. At BPC, he initiated and directed a task force on cybersecurity that published a report on eliminating information sharing impediments.