After his surprising departure from the FCC, Nathan Simington has already returned to policy work, joining a top Conservative think tank as a visiting fellow. The news was announced last week by another former FCC Commissioner.
Simington is now a visiting fellow at the Hudson Institute Center for the Economics of the Internet, the DC-based public policy research center founded in 1961 by military strategist Herman Kahn and colleagues from the RAND Corporation. The institute is best known for studies in defense, international relations, economics, health care, technology, culture, and law.
The announcement was made on LinkedIn by Hudson Institute Senior Fellow Harold Furchtgott-Roth. Furchtgott-Roth, who served at the FCC from 1997 to 2001, currently leads Hudson’s Center for the Economics of the Internet.
Simington, a Canadian-born attorney who became a US citizen shortly before his 2020 appointment to the FCC by President Donald Trump, now joins a roster of conservative policy thinkers at Hudson, including former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, former US Attorney General William Barr, and former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley.
Simington departed the FCC on June 6, leaving the agency unexpectedly without a Republican majority or the three-member quorum needed for official action. Following his resignation, tensions between Simington and FCC Chairman Brendan Carr also surfaced, hinting at a lack of agreement behind the scenes.
His resignation rushed the Senate’s confirmation of Republican FCC Commissioner Olivia Trusty on June 17, which restored the commission’s quorum.
