Matt Pearl

Director, Strategic Technologies Program
Matt Pearl

Matt Pearl is director of the Strategic Technologies Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), where he focuses on the intersection of technology, national security, and geopolitics. A veteran of the White House and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), he brings more than a decade of experience shaping U.S. technology policy. Prior to joining CSIS in 2025, Mr. Pearl served on the White House National Security Council as director for emerging technologies and special adviser to the deputy national security adviser. In this role, he coordinated interagency strategy and helped lead initiatives such as the National Spectrum Strategy, the U.S. Cyber Trust Mark for Internet of Things security, and the International Joint Statement on 6G Principles. His portfolio spanned data security, cloud computing, space governance, critical infrastructure resilience, and the national security review of foreign investments through the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States and Team Telecom. Previously, Mr. Pearl spent more than ten years at the FCC, where he rose to associate bureau chief of the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau. There, he managed major spectrum transitions to support next-generation wireless networks. An expert on U.S.China technology competition, he has testified before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. His commentary has appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, Politico, and NPR. Mr. Pearl was a research affiliate at Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center and clerked for both federal district and appellate courts. He earned his JD from Yale Law School, where he served as an editor of the Yale Journal on Regulation.

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Tech Edge: A Living Playbook for America’s Technology Long Game

Winning the tech race is not about any single breakthrough. Leadership requires competing across the full menu of technologies, developing the dexterity to build at speed and scale, and defending our domestic markets from nonmarket competition.

Report by CSIS Scholars — January 20, 2026