The Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative
President Obama has identified cybersecurity as one of the most serious economic and national security
challenges we face as a nation, but one that we as a government or as a country are not adequately
prepared to counter. Shortly after taking office, the President therefore ordered a thorough review of
federal efforts to defend the U.S. information and communications infrastructure and the development
of a comprehensive approach to securing America’s digital infrastructure.
In May 2009, the President accepted the recommendations of the resulting Cyberspace Policy Review,
including the selection of an Executive Branch Cybersecurity Coordinator who will have regular access to
the President. The Executive Branch was also directed to work closely with all key players in U.S. cybersecurity, including state and local governments and the private sector, to ensure an organized and unified
response to future cyber incidents; strengthen public/private partnerships to find technology solutions
that ensure U.S. security and prosperity; invest in the cutting-edge research and development necessary
for the innovation and discovery to meet the digital challenges of our time; and begin a campaign to
promote cybersecurity awareness and digital literacy from our boardrooms to our classrooms and begin
to build the digital workforce of the 21st century. Finally, the President directed that these activities be
conducted in a way that is consistent with ensuring the privacy rights and civil liberties guaranteed in
the Constitution and cherished by all Americans.
The activities under way to implement the recommendations of the Cyberspace Policy Review build
on the Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative (CNCI) launched by President George W. Bush
in National Security Presidential Directive 54/Homeland Security Presidential Directive 23 (NSPD-54/
HSPD-23) in January 2008. President Obama determined that the CNCI and its associated activities
should evolve to become key elements of a broader, updated national U.S. cybersecurity strategy. These
CNCI initiatives will play a key role in supporting the achievement of many of the key recommendations
of President Obama’s Cyberspace Policy Review.
The CNCI consists of a number of mutually reinforcing initiatives with the following major goals designed
to help secure the United States in cyberspace:
•• To establish a front line of defense against today’s immediate threats by creating or
enhancing shared situational awareness of network vulnerabilities, threats, and events within
the Federal Government—and ultimately with state, local, and tribal governments and private
sector partners—and the ability to act quickly to reduce our current vulnerabilities and prevent
intrusions.
•• To defend against the full spectrum of threats by enhancing U.S. counterintelligence capabilities and increasing the security of the supply chain for key information technologies.
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