Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani is getting a role in President-elect Donald Trump's administration studying U.S. cybersecurity with the private sector, Giuliani announced Thursday.
Giuliani, a loyal Trump supporter throughout the presidential race, appeared on Fox News to say that he will run a team made up of people in the private sector to study ways to prevent hacking, a major turning point in the presidential election.
"My belief is, as always, that the answer to cybersecurity is going to be found in the private sector," Giuliani said. "That's where we have great creativity, that's where we have the huge amount of money, and that's where we have these great companies, the greatest companies in the world."
The Trump transition team confirmed the news, with spokesman Sean Spicer telling Fox News Giuliani "is unbelievably qualified to lead this, through his work since 9/11."
Trump said Wednesday at a wide-ranging news conference that he wants to boost the nation's "hacking defense," and promised a report on protecting the U.S. from hacking within his first 90 days.
He also said Russian President Vladimir Putin shouldn't be hacking groups like the Democratic National Committee. He added that Putin will stop doing so when Trump becomes president.
A news release from the transition team said Giuliani "will be sharing his expertise and insight" on the cyber-sector and initiating the effort to study hacking.
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"From time to time because of the changing nature of this problem, it is contemplated that the President-elect will be hosting a series of meetings with senior corporate executives from companies which have faced or are facing challenges similar to those facing the government and public entities today, such as hacking, intrusions, disruptions, manipulations, theft of data and identities, and securing information technology infrastructure," the release said.
Giuliani was said to be in the running to lead the State Department last month, but Trump ended up tapping Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson.
