Biden’s Cyber ​​Ambassador Urges Trump Not to Give Ground to Russia, China in Global Tech Fight

European governments are questioning whether Trump will continue US support for Ukraine and NATO in a conflict with Russia that has partly playing in cyberspace. Fick’s team was instrumental establish a process to quickly provide cyber-defense aid to Ukraine’s embattled government.

“I was in Ukraine just before Christmas, I was in Poland, I was in Estonia, sort of up and down the eastern flank of NATO,” he says, adding that he heard “a deep desire for the United States to remain engaged and a recognition that European partners have to do their part – which, by the way, they are doing more and more”.

More generally, Fick heard “a strong desire among many allies and partners” for the United States to continue to go toe-to-toe with China and Russia in technology and cyber discussions at international bodies such as the UN and the Group of 20.

“Without the United States being deeply involved, you’re going to see the Chinese more deeply involved, you’re going to see the Russians more deeply involved,” Fick says. “There is a fairly broad view (globally) that the United States needs, for its own interests and for the interests of our allies and partners, to remain engaged in multilateral organizations.”

Fick sympathizes with Republicans who consider these multilateral organizations too slow and timid, but he wants Trump’s team to “recognize that the alternative is not to diminish the influence of these organizations; the alternative is only that they become playgrounds for our competitors and our opponents”.

Celebrating “a sea change”

About his time as America’s cyber ambassador – which saw him spend a total of more than 200 days traveling the world on nearly 80 trips to visit key US allies and partners United – Fick is proud of how his team launched a completely new office in the world. Department of State, has grown to about 130 employees, and has produced results that, he says, are transforming digital diplomacy.

One of his biggest achievements is the launch of a foreign cyber aid fund what you do will support the programs to implement security assistance to pirate allies, subsidize new submarine cables, and train foreign diplomats on cyber issues.

The security assistance project saw an initial test in November when Costa Rica faced another major ransomware attack. “We had people on a plane the next morning, Thanksgiving morning, with their hands on keyboards alongside Costa Rican partners that night,” says Fick. “It’s amazing. It’s a sea change in how we do this, and it’s going to strengthen our hand to provide support to these states of the middle.”

Fick also focused on the preparation of the Foreign Service for the modern world, meeting its goal of train at least one tech-savvy diplomat for every foreign embassy (about 237 in total) and successfully lobbied to add digital fluency to the State Department’s criteria for career ambassador positions. He also helped State counter the Pentagon in White House discussions on foreign technology issues, putting “American diplomacy literally back to the table in the Situation Room on technology issues.”

And then there’s his team’s support for U.S. cyber aid to Ukraine, from security software to satellite communications to cloud migration for vital government data — work that, he says, offers a model for future public-private foreign aid partnerships.

A Final Warning

Fick shared his thoughts on China, 5G, AI, deterrence and other cyber issues with Trump’s transition team, and says there’s still more to do to keep cyber diplomacy “front and center” at State . But as he prepares to leave government, he has one big piece of advice for the incoming administration.

“It’s essential to have a bias for action,” he says. “We end up admiring a problem for too long instead of taking a decisive step to face it… That decisive step may be imperfect, but indecision is a decision, and the world moves forward without you.

You can put it another way: In an era of rapidly evolving technology and intensifying geopolitical competition, massive bureaucracies like the State Department sometimes need to be put into action.

“The job of leaders in these large organizations,” says Fick, “is to move the org to change a little faster than it can on its own.”