Wren Elhai

Wren Elhai serves as Public Diplomacy Advisor in the State Department's Office of the Coordinator for Cyber Issues. In this role, he designs public messaging and programs to advance U.S. policy concerning stability and security in cyberspace. He is a career Foreign Service Officer and has served overseas in Kazakhstan, Pakistan, and Russia. He has published work on online disinformation, content platform regulation, and civil society's role in shaping tech policy. He began his career at the Center for Global Development writing about the U.S. development strategy in Pakistan and about aid effectiveness issues.

Wren grew up in Richmond, Virginia and holds a B.A. in Political Science and Russian Studies from Swarthmore College and a M.A. in International Policy (Cyber Policy and Security) from Stanford University. At Stanford, he worked at the Stanford Internet Observatory and in the Digital Civil Society Lab. He plays an assortment of stringed instruments, ranging from bluegrass fiddle to the Kazakh kobyz, and spent a year as a Thomas J. Watson Fellow studying five vocal music traditions.