WASHINGTON (CN) – Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani will advise President-elect Donald Trump on cybersecurity developments, Trump’s transition team announced Thursday.
Giuliani was once a candidate for secretary of state in the incoming Trump administration, but withdrew his name in late November. At the time Trump said Giuliani removed himself from consideration for all positions in the administration, though he would “call upon him for advice” at a later date.
The former mayor currently runs a security consulting firm and chairs the global cybersecurity practice at Greenberg Traurig, according to the transition team new release.
Giuliani’s business experience was seen as a hindrance to his secretary of state candidacy, as his company had deals with the government of Qatar as well as with an Iranian opposition group that until 2012 was on the State Department’s list of foreign terrorist organizations.
In the release announcing Giuliani’s role, Trump’s transition team said Giuliani will help start a conference of tech experts in the private sector to help the government respond to emerging cyberthreats.
“Mr. Giuliani was asked to initiate this process because of his long and very successful government career in law enforcement and his now sixteen years of work providing security solutions in the private sector,” the news release reads.