Currently a Winter Fellow at the Centre for the Governance of AI in London, focused on practical approaches to EU AI Act compliance.
I'm on leave from a 16-year career in the U.S. Foreign Service, where I focused on technology policy, economic statecraft, and countering authoritarian influence. Most recently led economic and digital policy at Embassy Riga, developing a strategic communications plan that positioned economic resilience as central to Latvia's national security—messaging that Latvia's President and Prime Minister echoed in their own public remarks. Earlier: economic diplomacy in West Africa, staff work supporting the Assistant Secretary for European Affairs, and technical surveillance countermeasures.
Before diplomacy, I was an engineer. My master's is in robotics from Georgia Tech, and that technical foundation shapes how I approach policy: I care less about what regulations say than whether organizations can actually implement them.
The EU AI Act requires general-purpose AI providers to produce detailed technical documentation under Article 53. But standard model cards — even from major labs — don't contain all required information, particularly around energy consumption and computational resources.
I built an MCP server tool that extracts metadata from HuggingFace model cards and generates compliance documentation automatically. Validation testing against models including Microsoft Phi-4 and DeepSeek-R1 revealed that the tool works, but the underlying documentation gaps will create industry-wide compliance challenges.
What does EU AI Act Article 12 actually require for agent traceability? Current logging approaches capture what an agent did, but not the reasoning chain that preceded the action. I'm exploring "externalized reasoning" as a framework for audit systems that can satisfy regulatory requirements for AI agents operating autonomously.
Selected for the competitive Winter Fellowship at the Centre for the Governance of AI in London, taking leave from a 16-year diplomatic career to specialize in AI governance. Developing technical recommendations for AI agent audit trails under EU AI Act Article 12, arguing that valid audit logs must capture an agent's reasoning ("chain of thought") alongside its actions — not just tool outputs. Built and deployed an open-source compliance tool that automates Article 53 documentation, demonstrating that governance requirements can be operationalized into infrastructure.
Led development of a strategic communications plan positioning economic resilience as central to Latvia's national security. Coordinated rollout including an ambassadorial op-ed, media interviews, and targeted engagement with parliamentarians and business leaders. Success metric: Latvia's President and Prime Minister began echoing our talking points in their public remarks — proof the strategy landed. Also built interagency coalitions that removed a Chinese surveillance company from Riga airport and secured the contract for a U.S. competitor. Established the embassy's first cyber/digital working group spanning Treasury, DOJ, Secret Service, and FBI.
Managed policy paper flow for the Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs during the Biden transition. Served as Acting Special Assistant; provided weekend staffing support during Nagorno-Karabakh ceasefire negotiations that resulted in the Armenia-Azerbaijan ceasefire agreement.
Wrote the first-ever Country Commercial Guide for Mauritania. Led AGOA trade negotiations and convinced USTR to shift U.S. strategy on judicial recordkeeping for slavery cases. Served as Acting DCM. Coordinated election monitoring for Mauritania's first peaceful democratic transition of power.
Served as Acting Public Affairs Officer for six months while maintaining full consular duties—managing press strategy, the Ambassador's weekly media brief, and public diplomacy programming. Coordinated comprehensive press coverage for the USS Comfort humanitarian medical mission. Handled sensitive media inquiries regarding embassy personnel. Received a Meritorious Honor Award for contributions that maintained mission effectiveness during a critical staffing gap.
Started at State as a Security Engineering Officer in technical surveillance countermeasures, managing a $45M worldwide equipment inventory. Master's in robotics from Georgia Tech (2010). This technical background informs my approach to policy implementation.
