The Obama Administration yesterday issued a new strategy for linking the country’s efforts in cyberspace with its international partners, outlining a vision and policy priorities to serve as a roadmap for federal departments and agencies to work toward implementing the country’s international cyberspace efforts.
The International Strategy for Cyberspace: Prosperity, Security and Openness in a Networked World, “is the first time that our nation has laid out an approach that unifies our engagement with international partners on the full range of cyber issues,” President Obama states in the preface to the strategy. “It provides the context for our partners at home and abroad to understand our priorities, and how we can come together to preserve the character of cyberspace and reduce the threats we face.”
The goal of the strategy is promoting an Internet that is open, interoperable, secure and reliable and that “supports international trade and commerce, strengthens international security and fosters free expression and innovation,” Secretary of State Hilary Clinton said at a briefing to announce the strategy.
The foundation for the vision already exists but there is no guarantee it will be fulfilled and it can’t be implemented by one country, the strategy says. Moreover, there is not “one-size fits all” prescription, Clinton said. It requires international consensus abut the vision “to make sure it serves rather than impedes social and economic and political aspirations of people worldwide.”
Clinton discussed seven diplomatic policy priorities outlined in the strategy. These are the encouragement of innovation and trade while safeguarding intellectual property, bolstering cyber security, improving law enforcement’s ability to respond to cyber crimes, boosting military cooperation to better defend against cyber threats, promote Internet governance structures, help other countries build their digital infrastructure and capacity to boost prosperity and cyber security, and support Internet freedom and privacy.
Clinton was joined yesterday by a number of department chiefs as well as various other government and foreign officials.
The strategy invites foreign governments to work with the U.S. “in realizing this vision of prosperity, security, and openness in our networked world.”