The Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee voted Dec. 15 to approve the White House’s nomination of Alan Davidson to head the Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Association (NTIA).
The committee’s approval sends the nomination to the full Senate for consideration.
NTIA serves as the President’s primary advisor on telecommunications and information policy issues and focuses on critical issues to the business community, including spectrum management, broadband, cybersecurity, 5G security, and privacy. The NTIA administrator also is a key position central to the Commerce Department’s efforts to reinvigorate U.S. participation in international standards-setting bodies.
Davidson has extensive experience in technology and information both at the policy and practitioner level. He has served in various government positions, including at the Commerce Department, as well as with public interest organizations, and in the private sector.
Republican Senators John Thune, R-S.D., Marsha Blackburn, R.-Tenn., and Rick Scott, R-Fla., . were the only members of the Commerce committee to express reservations about Davidson’s nomination.
