Eileen C Donahoe has been appointed as the US State Department’s special envoy and coordinator for Digital Freedom.
“I welcome the appointment of Dr Eileen Donahoe as the State Department’s special envoy and coordinator for Digital Freedom in the Bureau of Cyberspace and Digital Policy,” said US Secretary of State Antony J Blinken on Monday.
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The president’s appointment of Dr Donahoe reinforces the importance of digital freedom and values-based technology governance work as Administration and Department priorities, he said, adding that as Special Envoy and Coordinator, Dr Donahoe will leverage her deep technical knowledge and foreign policy experience to advance US priorities around online freedoms, digital inclusion, and information integrity.
“Dr Donahoe has built a distinguished career promoting human rights and digital freedom both within and outside of government and is uniquely qualified to lead in this role. She joins us from the Global Digital Policy Incubator (GDPi) at Stanford University’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, where she served as the Executive Director,” said Blinken.
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Dr Donahoe previously served as the first US ambassador to the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva.
She was also Director of Global Affairs at Human Rights Watch where she represented the organization worldwide on human rights foreign policy, with a special focus on Internet governance and digital security.
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“We are excited to welcome Dr. Donahue back to the State Department in this important leadership role,” Blinken said.