Former White House Director for Cybersecurity Robert Knake is joining the Office of National Cyber Director (ONCD) as deputy national cyber director for strategy and budget, an ONCD spokesperson confirmed to MeriTalk today.
Knake joins a still-growing team at ONCD, as National Cyber Director Chris Inglis focuses on “policy, people, and doctrine” to key the success of his burgeoning directorate. With ONCD recently being funded by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, Knake will have the important role of helping strategize for and manage the office’s budget.
Knake served as the White House director for cybersecurity from 2011-15, before joining the Council on Foreign Relation as a senior fellow for cyber policy. He’s been in that role since 2015, while also serving as a member of various industry cyber advisory boards.
In addition to his role in the White House and in industry, Knake has also had three stints in academia, working at Georgetown University, Northeastern University, and most recently at Harvard.
He was an adjunct professor at Georgetown’s Public Policy Institute, teaching the “policy aspects of cyber conflict and national security” from 2014-17, according to his LinkedIn. He worked full-time as a senior research scientist at Northeastern’s Global Resilience Institute from 2017-20 and has been a non-resident fellow at Harvard’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs since 2020.
