Joseph L. (Joe) Gattuso is an Attorney-Advisor and Program Manager in the Commercial Law Development Program (CLDP) of the Department of Commerce’s Office of the General Counsel. Mr. Gattuso leads CLDP’s efforts on telecommunications, Internet, and cybersecurity legal reform and economic development. He works primarily with countries in the Middle East and South Asia, including Iraq, Afghanistan, and Burma (Myanmar).

Mr. Gattuso comes to CLDP from the Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration, where he most recently served as a Senior Policy Advisor in the Office of Policy Analysis and Development. At various times in over 20 years at NTIA, Mr. Gattuso held the positions of Deputy Associate Administrator for Policy and Acting Director of Congressional Affairs.

In 2004, Mr. Gattuso spent six months in Iraq on detail to the Department of Defense/Coalition Provisional Authority. There he addressed legal and regulatory issues regarding Iraq’s information and communications technology (ICT) sector, such as the creation of an independent regulatory commission, the licensing of mobile telephone operators, the restructuring of the state-owned telephone company, and the redelegation of the “.iq” country code top level Internet domain.

Mr. Gattuso joined the Civilian Response Corps, now under the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations, as a standby member in 2009, and helped coordinate post-disaster planning among agencies, including USAID and the Federal Communications Commission, immediately following the Haiti earthquake in early 2010. Mr. Gattuso gained early international experience by speaking on telecommunications policy at conferences in Hungary, Slovakia, and Russia. For many years he taught visiting international participants at NTIA’s annual spectrum management course, conducted through the United States Telecommunications Training Institute (USTTI).

The Commerce Department recognized Mr. Gattuso for his work in Iraq with its highest honor, a Gold Medal Award. Mr. Gattuso also received a Silver Medal and several Bronze Medal Awards for other projects during his Commerce career.

Prior to joining the Commerce Department, Mr. Gattuso practiced law in the Los Angeles, California area. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from Stanford University and a Juris Doctorate from the UCLA School of Law, where he participated in the Communications Law Program and moot court. Mr. Gattuso is admitted to practice law in the District of Columbia and in California (inactive) and is a member of the Federal Communications Bar Association.