David Edelman is Director of the Project on Technology, the Economy, & National Security (TENS), part of the MIT Internet Policy Research Initiative (IPRI). At MIT he teaches and leads research on areas including applied artificial intelligence, international cybersecurity, and technology governance, and holds joint appointments in the Computer Science & Artificial Intelligence Lab (CSAIL) and the Center for International Studies (CIS).
Until January 2017, Edelman served at the White House as Special Assistant to the President for Economic and Technology Policy, and from 2010 – 2012 served as the first Director for International Cyber Policy on the National Security Council (NSC). He began his career at the State Department, where he developed the U.S. government’s early diplomatic strategy and legal doctrine on cyber issues, and later served as the United States’ lead negotiator on Internet issues at the United Nations. Edelman earned his bachelor’s degree from Yale, and Master’s and Doctoral degrees from Oxford, where he was a Clarendon Scholar.