Why America Has a New Tech Ambassador

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Nathaniel Fick, the ambassador-at-large for the U.S. State Department, speaks to students during a recruitment event at Stanford University in Stanford, California.

The Biden administration’s National Security Strategy has called for an “allied techno-industrial base” to safeguard U.S. interests, security, and values. Key to the technological aspect of that strategy is the White House’s new Bureau of Cyberspace and Digital Policy, run by Ambassador-at-Large Nathaniel Fick.

Fick is a former tech and cybersecurity executive who previously toured Afghanistan and Iraq as a U.S. Marine. He has now been tasked by the Biden administration to expand the U.S. role in global tech diplomacy and add heft to Washington’s fight against misinformation and cyberthreats.

What are the White House’s plans to stay ahead of its adversaries in the digital world? Fick joined FP’s Ravi Agrawal to discuss cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, tech diplomacy, and more.

Why did the Biden administration choose Nathaniel Fick, a government outsider, to be its new ambassador-at-large for cyberspace and digital policy?

Watch what Fick had to say when asked how the United States can compete with China’s Belt and Road offers when there is disillusionment with U.S. diplomacy.

How can the United States begin to regulate AI when those building the technology have warned it could end humanity? Watch Fick’s answer.

Nathaniel C. Fick

U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for Cyberspace and Digital Policy

Nathaniel Fick is the U.S. ambassador-at-large for cyberspace and digital policy. Prior to joining the State Department, Fick was a technology executive and entrepreneur. He was the CEO of the cybersecurity software company Endgame from 2012 through its acquisition by Elastic in 2019. From 2009 to 2012, Fick was the CEO of the Center for a New American Security.  Earlier in his career, he served as a Marine Corps infantry and reconnaissance officer, including combat tours in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Host

Ravi Agrawal

Editor in chief, Foreign Policy

Ravi Agrawal is the editor in chief of Foreign Policy, the host of FP Live, and a regular world affairs analyst on TV and radio. Before joining FP in 2018, Agrawal worked at CNN for more than a decade in full-time roles spanning three continents, including as the network’s New Delhi bureau chief and correspondent. He is the author of India Connected: How the Smartphone Is Transforming the World’s Largest Democracy.

Read the Transcript

Nathaniel Fick, the ambassador-at-large for the U.S. State Department, speaks to students during a recruitment event at Stanford University in Stanford, California.

Why America Has a New Tech Ambassador

Nathaniel Fick on running the State Department’s new Bureau of Cyberspace and Digital Policy.

Insider  |  Ravi Agrawal

Prefer to listen? Follow the FP Live podcast for the entire conversation, plus other in-depth discussions, wherever you get your podcasts.

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