Christian is based in our Washington, DC office and is a Senior Vice President of ML Strategies. He assists a variety of clients in their interactions with the federal government.

Prior to joining ML Strategies, Christian spent 20 years on Capitol Hill, the last 10 of which he served as senior counsel and subcommittee staff director on the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. In so doing, he served under former chairs Sens. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and John D. Rockefeller IV (D-WV), and former Ranking Member Bill Nelson (D-FL). In this capacity, his work focused on a broad range of issues, including consumer protection, privacy and data security, cybersecurity, automobile and highway safety, product safety, sports, manufacturing, exports, and trade, while regularly interacting with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the National Highway Safety Administration (NHTSA), the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), and the Department of Commerce.

Earlier, Christian held senior staff and advisory roles with the House of Representatives’ Committee on Energy & Commerce, where he worked on matters related to the FTC, NHTSA, CPSC, Department of Commerce, and EPA.

Christian also served as a senior legislative assistant to former Reps. Bobby L. Rush (D-IL) and Bill Luther (D-MN), advising each on Energy & Commerce Committee issues.

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DC Circuit Court Rules AI Cannot be Author of Copyrighted Work, and NIST Finalizes AI Report — AI: The Washington Report

March 28, 2025 | Article | By Bruce Sokler, Alexander Hecht, Christian Tamotsu Fjeld, Matthew Tikhonovsky

Read about DC Circuit’s reinforcement of the human authorship requirement under US copyright law and the NIST’s newly finalized guidance on mitigating adversarial attacks targeting AI systems in the latest edition of AI: The Washington Report, a joint undertaking of Mintz and ML Strategies covering potential federal legislative, executive, and regulatory activities related to AI.

March 7, 2025 | Article | By Bruce Sokler, Alexander Hecht, Christian Tamotsu Fjeld, Matthew Tikhonovsky

Read about a March 5 hearing held by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce’s Subcommittee on Energy that featured testimony from experts about the growing demand for energy in the US, which they attributed partly to the rise in AI data centers.

February 27, 2025 | Article | By Bruce Sokler, Alexander Hecht, Christian Tamotsu Fjeld, Matthew Tikhonovsky

Read about the 13 bills that have already been introduced in the 119th Congress in the latest edition of AI: The Washington Report, a joint undertaking of Mintz and ML Strategies covering potential federal legislative, executive, and regulatory activities related to AI.

February 20, 2025 | Article | By Bruce Sokler, Alexander Hecht, Christian Tamotsu Fjeld, Matthew Tikhonovsky

Read about Vice President JD Vance’s remarks at the AI Action Summit in Paris, France, on February 11, which focused on priorities for the Trump administration’s approach to AI, including ensuring that American AI technology is the gold standard globally and avoiding excessive AI regulations.

February 12, 2025 | Article | By Bruce Sokler, Alexander Hecht, Christian Tamotsu Fjeld, Matthew Tikhonovsky

Read about a Request for Information (RFI) published by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, which seeks public comments on the development of the Trump administration’s AI Action Plan.

January 30, 2025 | Article | By Bruce Sokler, Alexander Hecht, Christian Tamotsu Fjeld, Matthew Tikhonovsky

Read about DeepSeek’s breakthrough and its potential impact on US AI policy in the latest edition of AI: The Washington Report, a joint undertaking of Mintz and ML Strategies covering potential federal legislative, executive, and regulatory activities related to AI.

January 24, 2025 | Article | By Bruce Sokler, Alexander Hecht, Christian Tamotsu Fjeld, Matthew Tikhonovsky

Read about the three significant actions on AI that President Trump in his first week in office in the latest edition of AI: The Washington Report, a joint undertaking of Mintz and ML Strategies covering potential federal legislative, executive, and regulatory activities related to AI.

January 17, 2025 | Article | By Bruce Sokler, Alexander Hecht, Christian Tamotsu Fjeld, Matthew Tikhonovsky

January 10, 2025 | Article | By Bruce Sokler, Alexander Hecht, Christian Tamotsu Fjeld, Matthew Tikhonovsky

Read about the FTC’s outlined factors for AI development and deployment in the latest edition of AI: The Washington Report, a joint undertaking of Mintz and ML Strategies covering potential federal legislative, executive, and regulatory activities related to AI.

January 3, 2025 | Article | By Bruce Sokler, Alexander Hecht, Christian Tamotsu Fjeld, Matthew Tikhonovsky

Read about AI-related developments from late December, including a delay in a report on AI copyright issues, the new defense law’s AI provisions, and the next Trump administration’s AI team.