The Senate on Jan. 11 voted to approve the nomination of Alan Davidson as Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information, and head of the agency’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA).
The confirmation came on a vote of 60-31. The White House nominated Davidson to the NTIA post in October 2021, and the nomination was cleared by the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee in December.
NTIA acts as the administration’s primary advisor on telecom and information policy issues, and oversees a broad portfolio of policy issues including spectrum management, broadband, cybersecurity, 5G security, and privacy. NTIA also leads Commerce Department efforts with international technology standards-setting bodies.
On the broadband front, NTIA holds a particularly influential role in helping to decide how the administration will spend new broadband funding and issued a notice earlier this month seeking input on how to distribute $48 billion approved by Congress for that purpose under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021.
Davidson brings broad experience to the new position at NTIA, having held senior positions at Mozilla and the New America think tank in recent years, after serving as Director of Digital Economy at the Commerce Department from 2015 to 2017.
