President Biden Announces Key Nominees

WASHINGTON – Today, President Joe Biden announced his intent to nominate the following individuals to serve as key leaders in his Administration:

• Michael Sulmeyer, Nominee to be Assistant Secretary of Defense for Cyber Policy, Department of Defense
• Christopher T. Hanson, Nominee to be Member and Chair of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Michael Sulmeyer, Nominee to be Assistant Secretary of Defense for Cyber Policy, Department of Defense

Michael Sulmeyer is the Principal Cyber Advisor to the Secretary of the Army. He is responsible for advising the Secretary on all cyber matters, including issues of readiness, capabilities, and strategy. Prior to his appointment with the U.S. Army, Sulmeyer served in a variety of roles in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the National Security Council, and at U.S. Cyber Command.

Outside of government, Sulmeyer was the Director of the Cybersecurity Project at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. He has also taught at the University of Texas School of Law and was a Senior Fellow at Georgetown University’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology.

Christopher T. Hanson, Nominee to be Member and Chair of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Christopher T. Hanson was designated Chair of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) by President Joe Biden in 2021. He was sworn in as a Commissioner on June 8, 2020, and is filling the remainder of a five-year term ending on June 30, 2024.

Hanson has more than two decades of government and private-sector experience in the fields of nuclear energy. Prior to joining the NRC, he served as a staff member on the Senate Appropriations Committee, where he oversaw civilian and national security nuclear programs. Before working in the Senate, Hanson served as a Senior Advisor in the Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy. He also served in the Office of the Chief Financial Officer, where he oversaw nuclear and environmental cleanup programs, and managed the department’s relationship with congressional appropriations committees.

Prior to joining the department, he served as a consultant at Booz Allen Hamilton, where he led multiple engagements for government and industry in the energy sector.

Hanson earned master’s degrees from Yale Divinity School and Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, where he focused on ethics and natural resource economics. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Religious Studies from Valparaiso University in Valparaiso, Indiana.

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