FCC Chairman Wheeler Announces Senior Staff Appointments

Federal Communications Commission Tom Wheeler announced the appointment of Tim Brennan as Chief Economist for the agency, and Clete Johnson as Chief Counsel for Cybersecurity in the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau.

Brennan, an expert on communications and media issues, is currently a professor of public policy and economics at the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) and a senior fellow with Resources for the Future (RFF). Prof. Brennan’s research has addressed topics in antitrust, regulatory economics, copyright, electricity markets, telecommunications and media policy, environmental economics, and methods and ethics in public policy. His current research is focusing on energy efficiency policies, the role of behavioral economics in cost-benefit analysis, and standards for legality of exclusionary practices in antitrust law. Before joining the UMBC faculty in 1990, Tim was an economist with the Antitrust Division of the US Department of Justice and taught in the telecommunications policy program at George Washington University. From 1996-97, he was a senior economist for the White House Council of Economic Advisers and in 2003-05 served as a staff consultant to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. During 2006, he held the T. D. MacDonald Chair in Industrial Economics at the Canadian Competition Bureau. He has advised on competition law internationally for authorities in countries including Australia, Costa Rica, Mexico, Russia, the Slovak Republic, Sweden, and Uzbekistan. In 2013, he received the Distinguished Service Award from the Public Utility Research Center.

Johnson will join the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau, where he will report directly to the Bureau Chief, Rear Admiral (Ret.) David Simpson, and help implement the Commission’s cybersecurity mission. This includes working with stakeholders to identify and address communications sector vulnerabilities, and increasing the security and resiliency of critical infrastructure within the communications sector by facilitating the development and implementation of cybersecurity best practices. Johnson joins the FCC from the Senate Intelligence Committee where he worked on a number of initiatives within the Committee’s cybersecurity portfolio and served as the Committee's lead staffer on financial intelligence issues. As the Committee’s designated counsel for former Intelligence Committee Chairman and present Commerce Committee Chairman Senator John D. Rockefeller IV, Johnson was the staff lead for Senator Rockefeller’s cybersecurity legislation and related stakeholder outreach. He served previously as Senator Rockefeller's counsel for defense, foreign policy, and international trade. Before coming to the Senate, Johnson practiced law at Patton Boggs LLP, focusing on export controls and defense procurement, as well as other aspects of international trade and security.