When: January 26, 2021 10:00am-11:00am ET
Where: Virtual
Who:
- Lauren Zabierek, Executive Director, Cyber Project (moderator)
- Dr. Sasha O’Connell, Executive in Residence in the Department of Justice, Law & Criminology, School of Public Affairs (SPA) at American University
- Tatyana Bolton, Policy Director, Cybersecurity and Emerging Threats at R Street
- Kiran Raj, Adjunct Professorial Lecturer Department of Justice, Law & Criminology at American University
The 2021 National Defense Authorization Act was full of cybersecurity legislation, much of which was recommended by the Cyberspace Solarium Commission. One of the provisions was the creation of a new, Senate-confirmed National Cyber Director (NCD) role. As of 15 January, President-Elect Biden has yet to announce who will occupy the inaugural role, but the cybersecurity community is eagerly anticipating the nomination, especially in the wake of the SolarWinds breach.
The NCD will have policy and budgetary authority to oversee development and implementation of the national cyber strategy and to coordinate national cyber incident response efforts. But what will this look like in practice? What will success look like for the first Director? What does the landscape look like for the NCD, and who must they work with to get the job done? These are some questions on our minds as the new Administration works to hit the ground running.
The Cyber Project welcomes Dr. Sasha O’Connell, Tatyana Bolton, and Kiran Raj in conversation with Lauren Zabierek to analyze the National Cyber Director role. Tatyana was a senior policy director for the U.S. Cyberspace Solarium Commission. Sasha and Kiran recently published their report, The United States Needs a Cyber Director: A Roadmap for Making It Happen in 2021.
Recommended Readings:
You can read their report here: https://www.american.edu/spa/upload/ncd-guide-final-oct-2020.pdf
You can access the Cyber Solarium Commission report here: https://www.solarium.gov/report