Lee G. Licata is a national security and technology policy leader with nearly two decades of experience spanning telecommunications, data security, emerging technology, technology supply chain security, and international trade. He has served in senior roles across the U.S. Department of Justice, the White House, and the Department of Homeland Security, where he has led major policy, regulatory, and interagency initiatives to safeguard U.S. national and economic security.
Mr. Licata most recently served in the U.S. Department of Justice’s National Security Division, where he held leadership roles including Deputy Section Chief for National Security Data Risk and Deputy Section Chief for Telecom and Supply Chain. In these roles, he led teams of attorneys on matters involving counterintelligence, telecommunications security, supply chain security emerging technologies, and foreign investment risk. He led the Department’s four-year effort to establish the new bulk data security program under Executive Order 14117, leading the team that drafted the program’s implementing regulations to prevent foreign adversary access to Americans’ most sensitive personal data. He also previously served as the Staff Chair for Team Telecom, overseeing the interagency committee’s national security reviews of more than 300 FCC licenses involving foreign-owned telecommunications operators, subsea cable systems, satellite systems, and media/broadcast licenses significantly strengthening protections for U.S. communications networks and related critical infrastructure.
Mr. Licata has also served in the White House National Security Council’s Technology and National Security Directorate, where he developed policy recommendations on telecommunications and data security and coordinated executive-branch actions to mitigate national security risks posed by foreign adversary–controlled software and connected applications. Previously, he was Director for Supply Chain and Technology Security at the White House Office of the National Cyber Director, where he established the office’s initial supply chain security portfolio and interagency structure following its creation by Congress.
Earlier in his career, Mr. Licata held senior positions at the Department of Homeland Security, including Branch Chief for Trade Agreements at U.S. Customs and Border Protection, where he led the DHS delegation to the U.S.–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA) trade negotiations. He also served in the DHS Office of Policy and as a detailee to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
Mr. Licata is widely recognized for his leadership on complex national security issues and has been honored multiple times with the Attorney General’s and Assistant Attorney General’s National Security Excellence Awards. He is a frequent speaker and advisor to industry, academic institutions, and international partners on DOJ’s bulk data security program as well as telecommunications security and technology policy.
He holds a J.D. from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law and a B.A. in International Economics and International Politics from The George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs.