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The White House
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release

President Obama Announces More Key Administration Posts, 12/16/10

WASHINGTON – Today, President Barack Obama announced his intent to nominate the following individual to a key Administration post:

  • James X. Dempsey, Member, Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board

President Obama also announced his intent to appoint Kevin J. Kennedy as a Member of the President’s National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee.  His biography is below.  
 
President Obama said, “These talented individuals bring a wealth of experience to their new roles.  I am confident they will serve the American people well, and I look forward to working with them in the months and years ahead.”
 
President Obama announced his intent to nominate the following individual to a key Administration post:

James X. Dempsey, Nominee for Member, Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board

James Dempsey is Vice President for Public Policy at the Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT), a non-profit public policy organization focused on privacy, national security, government surveillance, and other issues affecting the future of the Internet.  Mr. Dempsey joined CDT in 1997, holding senior roles in the organization, including Executive Director (2003-2005) and head of CDT’s West Coast office in San Francisco, CA.  Prior to joining CDT, he served as Deputy Director of the non-profit Center for National Security Studies and Special Counsel to the National Security Archive.  From 1985 to 1995, Mr. Dempsey was Assistant Counsel to the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Civil and Constitutional Rights.  From 1980 to 1984, he was an associate at Arnold & Porter, LLP.  Mr. Dempsey clerked for Judge Robert Braucher of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.  He has been a member of several bodies addressing privacy and national security issues, including the Markle Foundation Task Force on National Security in the Information Age, the Bill of Rights Defense Committee advisory board, the Industry Advisory Board for the National Counter-Terrorism Center, and the Transportation Security Administration’s Secure Flight Working Group, among others.  He holds a B.A. from Yale University and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.
 
President Obama announced his intent to appoint the following individual to a key Administration post:

Kevin J. Kennedy, Appointee for Member, President’s National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee

Kevin Kennedy is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Avaya Inc., a leading global provider of business communications applications, systems and services.  Prior to joining the company in January 2009, Dr. Kennedy was President and CEO of JDS Uniphase Corporation (JDSU) and also served as a member of the JDSU board of directors.  From 2001 to 2003, Dr. Kennedy served as COO of Openwave Systems, Inc. and spent close to eight years at Cisco Systems, Inc., most recently as senior vice president of the Service Provider Line of Business and Software Technologies Division. Earlier in his career, he spent 17 years with AT&T Bell Laboratories.  Dr. Kennedy was a member of the board of directors of Polycom, Inc. and currently serves on the board of directors of KLA-Tencor Corporation and is a member of the board of regents of Loyola Marymount University. Dr. Kennedy holds a Ph.D. and M.S. degree in engineering from Rutgers University and a B.S. in engineering from Lehigh University in Pennsylvania.