Immediate U.S. cyber ambassador nomination urged

CyberScoop reports that the Senate Foreign Relations Committee has been urged by a bipartisan group of 106 cyber industry leaders, national security experts, and former government officials to confirm Nate Fick as the State Department's first Ambassador at Large for Cyberspace and Digital Policy. "The new ambassador will need the ability to build diverse sets of economic, military, and political coalitions to advance our national interests and help protect our nation in the cyber domain. Nate has lived these challenges personally as a warfighter, policy expert, and business executive, and he is an inspiring leader and a galvanizing communicator," said the group in a letter sent prior to Fick's nomination hearing. Fick's confirmation is crucial as the U.S. faces increasingly sophisticated cybersecurity threats, according to George Mason University Law School National Security Institute Executive Director Jamil Jaffer. "Timely Senate action on this nomination is important given the growing range of threats se fact in the cyber domain including from nations like China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea, as well non-state and state-affiliated actors like the Russia ransomware gangs," said Jaffer.