Former Trump tech policy adviser Ethan Klein tapped for US CTO
Ethan Klein, an emerging technology policy adviser during the first Trump administration, has been nominated to be the White House’s chief technology officer, the Office of Science and Technology Policy confirmed Tuesday.
After serving in the first Trump White House, Klein completed a PhD in nuclear science and engineering at MIT, where he worked to develop nuclear tech for arms control and nonproliferation with funds from a fellowship through the National Nuclear Security Administration.
Klein also spent time at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, which is operated for the NNSA and focuses on weapons development, stewardship and national security.
Klein has been pursuing an MBA at Stanford, while working as a summer associate for the Aerospace and Defense group within Lazard, a financial advisory and asset management firm.
If confirmed as CTO, Klein would fill the same role that Michael Kratsios did during the first Trump administration, which went unfilled for the entirety of the Biden administration.
Kratsios, Trump’s nominee for OSTP director, said during his confirmation hearing that he believes it is “critically important for our nation to lead the world in emerging technologies.”
“The shape of the future global order will be defined by whomever leads across AI, quantum, nuclear and other critical and emerging technologies,” he said in his written testimony. “Chinese progress in nuclear fusion, quantum technologies and autonomous systems all press home the urgency of the work ahead.”
