The Government Accountability Office (GAO) said its strategic plan for 2022-2027 features significant emphasis on cybersecurity issues including the government’s capabilities to boost cyber defenses against foreign government influence campaigns, and the Defense Department’s ability to meet cyber threats across multiple domains.
Every four years, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) releases a strategic guide for its work to help lawmakers in Congress oversee Federal operations and address governmental and societal issues over a five-year period. In its newest plan, GAO outlines key efforts for 2022-2027; goals and objectives for serving Congress and the nation; and trends that are affecting government and society, while also detailing how technology plays a role in these efforts.
From a high level, the strategic plan’s Goals and Objectives for Serving Congress and the Nation lays out long-term strategies for accomplishing GAO’s goals during this five-year period. These goals in this section of the strategic plan fall under four categories, including:
- Well-being and financial security;
- National security and global interdependence;
- National challenges; and
- Maximizing GAO value.
“Looking ahead, GAO continues to perform foresight work to help the Congress further understand the implications of emerging issues that pose both risks and opportunities for the Federal government,” wrote Gene Dodaro, Comptroller General of the United States and the head of GAO.
“GAO’s Center for Strategic Foresight will help highlight these emerging issues with our subject matter experts, covering areas such as science and technology, innovation in financial services, national security, cybersecurity, and infrastructure,” he said.
The Goals and Objectives portion of the overall strategic plan includes strategic objective meant to guide GAO in accomplishing its goals. Of particular interest in technology and cybersecurity issues:
- Strategic Objective 2.1 discusses boosting the United States’ cyber defense against foreign governments using capabilities to aggravate social, racial, and ethnic tensions in the United States, undermine trust in authorities, and target assets and infrastructure;
- Strategic Objective 2.2, Effectively and Efficiently Utilize Resources for Military Capabilities and Readiness, includes 10 performance goals, including assessing the Department of Defense’s (DoD) efforts to prepare for and respond to cyber, space, and information-related threats and operations; and
- Strategic Objective 2.5, Ensure the Cybersecurity of the Nation, includes performance goals to “address the major cybersecurity challenges facing the nation, which include establishing and implementing a comprehensive national cybersecurity strategy, securing Federal agency and critical infrastructure systems from cyberattacks, and protecting privacy and sensitive data.
