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WASHINGTON, DC – The Bureau of Land Management has appointed Tara Rigler as the agency’s new Assistant Director for Communications.  Rigler, a veteran communications professional with more than two decades of experience, comes to the BLM from the National Security Council (NSC), where she has served as Director for Press since May of 2017.  BLM Deputy Director for Policy and Programs Brian Steed made the announcement today.

“Tara is a gifted communicator and strategic thinker who has honed her skills working on some of our nation’s most difficult national security and diplomatic challenges,” Steed said. “She’s also a Montana native who understands intimately the role of the BLM and public lands in the West, and we’re excited to have her leading our communications efforts.”

Since joining the NSC in May of 2017, Rigler has served as spokesperson and worked with the President’s National Security Advisor and his staff to lead interagency communications efforts and implement strategic communications on key foreign policy issues involving the Middle East, South Asia, weapons of mass destruction and defense.

As Assistant Director for Communications, Rigler’s management responsibilities will include Public Affairs (including new media), Legislative Affairs, Regulatory Affairs, Intergovernmental Affairs and oversight of the Bureau’s social media, correspondence and Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). She will lead efforts to ensure that the BLM speaks with a single voice on all issues facing the agency, and to convey complex public lands policies and actions to the American people and partners nationwide.

Prior to her work with the National Security Council, Rigler spent 5 years as Deputy Director for Press Operations at the Department of Defense (DoD), where she was responsible for managing a staff of more than a dozen military and civilian public affairs specialists providing information about the actions and accomplishments of the DoD, the Secretary of Defense and armed forces to national and international media. 

From 2009 to 2012, she served as spokesperson for the Undersecretary of Defense for Policy, as well as for the Defense Technology Security Administration, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, and the Defense Prisoner of War/Missing in Action Office.

Prior to that, Rigler served as the deputy spokesperson for the Department of State in the United States Embassy in New Delhi, India, and in various capacities in the State Department’s Washington, DC, headquarters. She has also worked in public affairs and outreach for the Department of the Army and the Fund for American Studies.

Rigler holds a Master’s Degree in political science and international relations from the University of Montana in Missoula, and a Bachelor’s Degree in political science and international relations from Carroll College in Helena, Montana.