CybersecurityAmerica's Place in Cyberspace: The Biden Administration’s Cyber Strategy Takes Shape

By David P. Fidler

In cyber policy, the SolarWinds and Microsoft hacks have dominated the first weeks of President Joseph Biden’s administration. Even so, the administration has outlined its cyber strategy in speeches by President Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken and in the president’s Interim Strategic National Security Guidance [PDF]. The speeches and guidance never use “internet freedom,” a departure from the prominence this idea long had in U.S. cyber policy. Instead, the strategy is anchored in the ideological, geopolitical, technological, and diplomatic pillars of President Biden’s overarching vision for U.S. foreign policy and national security.

Renew Democracy in Cyberspace
A striking feature of President Biden’s thinking is the need to renew democracy. In statements unthinkable less than a decade ago, the interim guidance asserted that democracies are “under siege” and “authoritarianism is on the global march,” and Secretary Blinken warned of the erosion and fragility of democracy. Cyber threats to democracy include election interference, disinformation, cyberattacks, and digital authoritarianism. The litany of anti-democratic cyber activities indicates that the United States should rethink democracy’s relationship with cyberspace as part of the democracy renewal project.

In the past, expanding global access to an open internet characterized how the United States connected democracy and cyberspace. With American democracy under threat, the United States needs to counter anti-democratic exploitation of cyber technologies by domestic and foreign actors. The United States faces the challenge of rolling back the spread of digital authoritarianism. Neither President Biden nor Secretary Blinken provided specific plans on how to achieve these objectives. But the president will hold a Summit of Democracy to address, among other issues, cyberspace challenges that democracies confront.

Defend against and Deter Cyber Threats
The speeches by the president and the secretary of state and the interim guidance emphasize that the distribution of power in the world has changed, creating geopolitical threats to the United States from China and Russia. The United States has experienced Chinese and Russian cyber operations for years, but the change in the distribution of power makes cybersecurity threats from China and Russia more serious problems. In response, the Biden administration plans to improve cyber defenses, deter hostile cyber operations by imposing costs on adversaries, and use diplomacy to strengthen cooperation and norms on cybersecurity.