December 1, 2016
After more than seven months, Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity has finalized its report on the Cybersecurity National Action Plan (CNAP) and is submitting it to President Obama. The Commission, which consists of “top strategic, business and technical thinkers from outside of Government,” according to a recent Politico article, was established as part of Obama’s effort to enhance the nation’s cybersecurity posture. The report is expected to be available to the public soon.
Members of the Commission explained the report focuses largely on short-term recommendations, with “market-based solutions rather than government regulations,” such as incentives and voluntary standards. The objective of CNAP is to enhance the nation’s long-term cybersecurity structure in both the public and private spheres. However, Kiersten Todt, executive director of the Commission explained that “the urgency of these issues is now. So what we hope is that many of these recommendations will be able to be executed.”
It is unclear how President-elect Donald Trump will handle the executive order and the Commission’s recommendations in the report, but the Commission has stated that a nonpartisan approach has been a key focus. Experts on the matter said that the nonpartisan nature of the executive order could give Trump a “rare opportunity to build on the work of President Obama.” Stanford University cyber researcher and Commission member, Herb Lin, also explained that “the political environment is very different now than it was before the election,” and that the Commission was “very scrupulous about not compromising the nonpartisan nature of the report.” The Commission consists of both Republican and Democratic representatives.
Trump has emphasized the need for the incoming administration to take a strong stance on hackers while simultaneously building out offensive cyber capabilities. The President-elect has vowed to create a “cyber review team” and change the nation’s stance on cybersecurity in the first 100 days of office, meaning he may choose to start fresh with his own agenda instead of building on that of Obama’s.