Matt Chessen's term ended on February 19, 2021.
Matt Chessen is a career U.S. diplomat, technologist and author who is currently serving as the Acting Science and Technology Adviser to the Secretary of State. In this role, he helps to connect Department foreign policy priorities to research, development and discoveries emerging from the high-tech and private sectors. Matt also manages the development of policy portfolios for artificial intelligence and computational propaganda.
From 2016-2017, Matt was the State Department Science and Technology Policy Fellow at the George Washington University, where he researched the international implications of artificial intelligence, computational propaganda, and emerging technology policy. From 2014-2016, Matt was the Coordinator for International Cyber Policy for the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs where he led the regional implementation of the U.S. International Strategy for Cyberspace.
Before joining the Foreign Service in 2004, Matt founded an ecommerce company and worked at Razorfish, managing the strategy development, design and implementation of large corporate websites. Matt served overseas as an Economic officer in Liberia, as a Consular and Pol-Mil officer in Iraq, and as a POLAD to ISAF-HQ in Afghanistan. He also worked in Washington, DC at the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs and at the Office of eDiplomacy, where he led the implementation of an open-source, crowd-working platform for the U.S. government called Open Opportunities.
Matt holds a J.D. from Georgetown University, and an M.B.A. and a B.A. from the University of Arizona. He has earned eleven honor awards for his service at the Department of State, including Superior Honor Awards for: his work on the Afghan Peace Process; his efforts advancing the U.S. International Strategy for Cyberspace; his leadership on countering malign cyber influence operations; and his direction of science, technology, and innovation policy at the Department. Matt has also written two novels, as well as numerous nonfiction articles and fictional short stories.