Wren Elhai

Wren Elhai is a career Foreign Service Officer currently serving as Public Affairs Officer in the Bureau of Oceans, Environment, and Science. In this role, he coordinates the State Department's public outreach on topics ranging from ocean conservation to outer space exploration. Wren was previously a senior advisor in the Bureau of Cyberspace and Digital Policy, where he led efforts to build cyber and digital policy skills throughout the Department. Since joining the Foreign Service in 2011, he has served at U.S. diplomatic missions in Kazakhstan, Pakistan, and Russia.

Wren began his career at the Center for Global Development writing about U.S. development strategy in Pakistan and about aid effectiveness issues. Wren grew up in Richmond, Virginia. He holds a B.A. in Political Science and Russian Studies from Swarthmore College and a M.A. in International Policy (Cyber Policy and Security) from Stanford University. At Stanford, he worked at the Stanford Internet Observatory and in the Digital Civil Society Lab and published work on content platform regulation and civil society's role in shaping tech policy. He plays an assortment of stringed instruments, ranging from bluegrass fiddle to the Kazakh kobyz, and spent a year as a Thomas J. Watson Fellow studying five vocal music traditions.