Trump Names Nominees for OSTP and DOD R&D
Former acting Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Michael Kratsios speaking during the Greek Economic Summit in 2020.
DOD / Marvin Lynchard
President-elect Donald Trump announced his picks for several science and technology adviser positions in a series of posts on Truth Social over the weekend.
He has selected Michael Kratsios as his nominee for director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. Like current OSTP Director Arati Prabhakar, Kratsios will also serve as assistant to the president for science and technology, a position that does not require Senate approval, unlike the OSTP directorship. Trump’s last OSTP director, Kelvin Droegemeier, did not hold the APST title but was chair of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. During Trump’s first term, Kratsios served as OSTP’s chief technology officer and later became acting undersecretary of defense for research and engineering.
Trump selected former Uber executive Emil Michael as his nominee for under secretary of defense for research and engineering. Michael served as an assistant to Defense Secretary Robert Gates and as a member of the Defense Business Board during the Obama administration.
Trump tapped Lynne Parker to be the executive director of PCAST and to serve as counselor to the director of OSTP. Parker is another former member of OSTP from Trump’s first term, having served as deputy chief technology officer and the inaugural director of OSTP’s National Artificial Intelligence Initiative Office, positions she held through the first half of the Biden administration.
Trump also announced that Sriram Krishnan will serve as senior policy advisor for AI at OSTP. Krishnan is a tech podcast host who previously worked for several major tech companies and Andreessen Horowitz, a Silicon Valley venture capital firm. He is reportedly close to Elon Musk and has expressed support for greatly expanding access to H-1B visas for tech workers and removing country caps on green cards. Trump said he expects Krishnan to work closely with his recently announced “crypto-czar” and PCAST director, David Sacks.
This news brief originally appeared in FYI’s newsletter for the week of Dec. 23.
