The Cyberspace Solarium Commission, which has served as an influential incubation chamber for a big chunk of cybersecurity policies that have become Federal law and policy over the past two years, underwent a status change over the holidays. The commission, which was born as a Federally commissioned group, transitioned to a 501(c)3 non-profit over the new year.
The goal of the non-profit will be to continue the work the commission has done and keep an eye on the wide range of cybersecurity issues it has explored since first being established by the fiscal year 2019 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).
“Over the holidays we’ll be shifting from the CSC, which is a Federal commission to cybersolarium.org, a 501(c)3 dedicated to developing and tracking issues identified by the CSC over the last two years,” Mark Montgomery, senior advisor to the commission, said at the group’s final meeting in December.
The commission delivered its first “final” report in March 2020, giving Congress a litany of recommendations for how to bolster Federal cybersecurity and wider cybersecurity practices.
The FY2021 NDAA reauthorized the commission “to collect and assess feedback on the analysis and recommendations contained within the final report, review the implementation of the recommendations contained within the final report, and completing the activities originally set forth.”
The FY2021 NDAA also represented a substantial win for the Solarium Commission, with 25 of the commission’s recommendations being included in the annual defense spending legislation. Among those recommendations was the establishment of the National Cyber Director position, to which Chris Inglis was nominated and confirmed last year.
According to an annual implementation report the commission released last August, 79.3 percent of the commission’s 82 original recommendations were on track for implementation, nearing implementation, or had been implemented.
While Montgomery said the commission would move from its solarium.gov site to a new cybersolarium.org website in the new year, the .gov site is still active and the latter has yet to be set up.
