Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday evening unveiled the Biden administration’s new international cybersecurity strategy, which focuses on building out digital solidarity with global partners to protect against adversaries like China.
During the RSA Conference in San Francisco on May 6, the department launched the United States’ International Cyberspace and Digital Policy Strategy: Towards an Innovative, Secure, and Rights-Respecting Digital Future to advance the White House’s March 2023 National Cybersecurity Strategy.
Blinken said during his keynote address on the first day of the RSA Conference that digital solidarity is the State Department’s North Star. “Solidarity informs our approach not only to digital technologies, but to all key foundational technologies,” he said.
The document presents digital solidarity under the idea that there is strength in numbers. The strategy defines the concept as “a willingness to work together on shared goals, to stand together, to help partners build capacity, and to provide mutual support.”
The strategy specifically calls on nations who use technology in “a rights-respecting manner” to band together – a quality the State Department says China abuses. The document notes that the Chinese government is the “broadest, most active, and most persistent cyber threat” to the United States.
“Technology issues are woven into nearly every aspect of our bilateral, multilateral and functional diplomacy, from economic growth to human rights to issues of military force. This strategy leads with digital solidarity as a necessary framework because nobody can address these issues alone,” U.S. Ambassador at Large for Cyberspace and Digital Policy Nathaniel Fick said in a statement.
“We need to do that among states, of course, but also with companies and civil society organizations in a true multi-stakeholder partnership,” Fick said.
The strategy lays out four areas of action to build digital solidarity: promoting a secure digital ecosystem; aligning “rights-respecting” digital approaches with international partners; building coalitions to counter malicious cyberattacks; and strengthening the cybersecurity resiliency of partner nations.
The first action area keys on a global campaign for open, interoperable, secure, trusted, and reliable telecommunication networks, especially 5G and the future of 6G. However, digital technologies are not limited to wireless technologies, the strategy says. This action also notes that the State Department and other agencies are coordinating with allies and partners on the development, deployment, and security of cloud infrastructure and data centers, undersea cables, and satellite communications.
The second action area – aligning “rights-respecting” digital approaches with international partners – includes seven lines of effort with a heavy focus on governance principles for critical and emerging technologies such as AI.
The new strategy describes governing AI as “one of the most pressing challenges for digital solidarity.” It pledges that the U.S. and its allies will “reach consensus on guiding principles” around the development and use of AI technologies – including advancing “global norms” in this space – through a human rights risk management framework for AI and a global AI research agenda.
Also in line with this second action area, the department said it will continue its work to negotiate a rights-respecting cybercrime treaty that opposes “overly broad definitions of cybercrime that could be used to stifle freedom of expression, infringe on privacy, and or endanger individuals and communities.”
The strategy’s third action area focuses on advancing responsible state behavior in cyberspace and countering threats to cyberspace and critical infrastructure by building coalitions and engaging partners. It lays out eight lines of effort: supporting partners amid malicious cyber activity; countering ransomware; safeguarding democratic processes; and combatting the misuse of commercial spyware; among others.
The final action area of the new strategy focuses on strengthening the cyber capacity of international partners to the U.S.
Specifically, the strategy notes that for fiscal year 2024, the State Department was granted $50 million for the Cyberspace, Digital Connectivity, and Related Technologies Fund, which allows the department “to provide rapid incident response and cyber aid quickly and effectively, as well as longer-term capacity and resilience building.”
“Moving forward, the United States will strive for a future in which cyberspace and digital technologies are used to advance economic prosperity and inclusion, enhance security, promote and protect human rights and democracy, and address transnational challenges,” the strategy concludes.
“The Department of State will build and extend digital solidarity to partners across the globe. The United States recognizes the need to work together to align approaches to data and digital governance and to promote the research, development, and deployment of critical and emerging technologies,” the document says. “The United States seeks to be the partner of choice in improving cybersecurity, building resilience, responding to, and recovering from malicious cyber activity.”
