State Department Welcomes ‘Digital Economy Officers’ to US Embassies
[Commentary] The State Department’s Economic Bureau, with the Office of International Communication and Information Policy (CIP) running point, is working to strengthen the Department’s ability to address digital economy issues. We are developing a new Digital Economy Officer Program as part of that effort and we are working with our colleagues from the Department of Commerce to team up and ensure that our interests and values in the digital age are advanced abroad. Economic officers in our embassies around the world are today working hard to advance US interests as the digital economy expands and to ensure the proliferation of technology contributes to global prosperity and our national security. However, those responsibilities are shifting in shape and growing in importance and impact almost as quickly as the underlying technologies themselves. And we are responding that challenge.
To start off, we formerly referred to our officers managing these issues in our embassies and consulates as “ICT officers.” But this term doesn’t reflect how critical their work is to the economy overall. As a result, we are rebranding our ICT officers as “digital economy officers” to better reflect the scope and depth of the work that they need to do in markets abroad. Other steps we’re taking aim at helping to increase the skills of our officers and the tools they have at their disposal. This will involve providing more intensive work with the private sector and NGOs passionate about digital economy issues, increased and improved training for our officers, improving our communication with Embassy Economic Sections on digital economy issues, and making sure our people have good informational resources easily available. We will also work to further raise the profile of digital economic diplomacy in our overseas missions. Our goals are to enhance the knowledge, capabilities, and resources available to officers handling digital economy issues, allowing them to be even stronger advocates for policies that promote American interests in this area. And our Digital Economy Officers will also be the on the ground face, voice, and advocates for our Global Connect Initiative.
[Daniel Sepulveda is the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State and US Coordinator for International Communications and Information Policy in the State Department’s Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs (EB)]