White House Touts Lofty Cyberspace Goals

Fundamental freedoms, privacy and the free flow of information are the three core commitments of the White House’s international cyberspace policy, the strategy said. The administration said it will “build and sustain an environment in which norms of responsible behavior guide states’ actions, sustain partnerships, and support the rule of law in cyberspace.” The administration’s cyberspace norms include respect for fundamental freedoms, property and privacy, protection from cybercrime and the right of self-defense, the report said.

The White House advocated incentives to help international policy makers “work together and act as responsible stakeholders,” the report said. It will achieve this by strengthening international partnerships, increasing interactions with regional multi-stakeholder organizations and collaborating with the private sector, the report said. “We begin this strategy by recognizing that long term security in cyberspace comes from international cooperation,” said Howard Schmidt, the White House cybersecurity coordinator. “It depends on building a series of states and communities that can see the intrinsic benefits of cyberspace where trust and progress win out over fear and control."

The administration will defend U.S. cyberspace and cyberassets from malicious actors by encouraging responsible behavior and “opposing those who would seek to disrupt networks and systems,” the report said. The Department of Homeland Security will work to secure federal cybersystems, critical infrastructure systems, and state and local government information systems, the report said. Coordinating a cyber approach with the private sector and critical infrastructure owners is a key component of the plan, said Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano at the press conference. “Without a secure cyberspace, critical infrastructure will stop functioning … and basic necessities won’t make it to store shelves,” said Napolitano.

The administration has now implemented two recommendations from the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ cybersecurity commission, which released a foreign policy-focused report in January updating its initial proposals from 2008, said commission co-chair and Rep. Jim Langevin, D-R.I. “I am encouraged to see the Administration weigh in with a policy that employs a ‘whole of government’ approach to address these critical issues, while also building on the unique strength of America’s international partnerships,” said Langevin, also co-chair of the Congressional Cybersecurity Caucus.

The White House strategy is “critical to reaching a consensus solution” that will head off the “growing policy patchwork” of cybersecurity laws and regulations from other countries that are “inconsistent with generally accepted norms and standards,” said Information Technology Industry Council President Dean Garfield. The Center for Democracy and Technology said the strategy provides a “vision of an open, interoperable, secure and reliable Internet through which people are empowered to exercise fundamental freedoms,” giving agencies the flexibility to craft their own cyberspace strategies. “As is the case with any document of this breadth, some principles outlined in the strategy will sometimes come into conflict -- one measure of who we are as a nation will be how those conflicts are resolved,” said CDT President Leslie Harris. TechAmerica President Phil Bond said the group was “particularly pleased” that the first policy priority in the strategy is a “focus on the economy by promoting international standards and protecting innovation and open markets.”