The Senate confirmed Ethan Klein as the U.S. chief technology officer (CTO) on Thursday evening, making the former White House policy advisor the first person to hold the role since 2021.
Klein was nominated as U.S. CTO in March, and the nomination also cements his role as associate director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP).
“As someone who has worked both at the lab bench and the White House, I believe deeply in America’s vibrant tech ecosystem and the promise of emerging technologies to fundamentally improve American lives. The Golden Age of American Innovation has only just begun,” Klein said in a statement.
During the first Trump administration, Klein worked as a policy advisor with OSTP and led the emerging technologies portfolio for the former U.S. CTO Michael Kratsios, who now serves as the OSTP director.
Klein’s experience at OSTP focused on artificial intelligence, autonomous systems, nuclear fusion, and modernizing regulatory frameworks, OSTP said in an announcement.
After working under the first Trump administration, Klein then received a PhD in nuclear science and engineering at MIT.
During his time at MIT, Klein was a nuclear nonproliferation and international safeguards fellow at the National Nuclear Security Administration. That fellowship supports graduate study in technical and policy aspects of preventing the spread of nuclear weapons and includes practical experience at Energy Department labs.
Since receiving his PhD, Klein has served as a defense innovation scholar at the Stanford Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation, and he worked as a summer associate at Lazard, an aerospace and defense group.
“I’ve worked with Dr. Ethan Klein for nearly a decade and seen firsthand his expertise as a policymaker and technologist. He brings unparalleled experience, thoughtful leadership, and results-driven energy to the role of U.S. CTO,” Kratsios said in a statement.
The role of U.S. CTO was first created by former President Barack Obama, and Klein will be the fifth person to have ever held the role. It has been vacant since 2021, when Kratsios left during the transition to the Biden administration. Former President Joe Biden chose not to nominate a U.S. CTO.
Those who have previously held the role in addition to Kratsios include Aneesh Chopra, Todd Park, and Megan Smith.