PILLAR III: PRESERVE PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH
which we will impose consistent with our obligations and commitments to deter future bad
behavior. The Administration will conduct interagency policy planning for the time periods
leading up to, during, and after the imposition of
consequences to ensure a timely and consistent
process for responding to and deterring malicious
cyber activities. The United States will work
with partners when appropriate to impose
consequences against malicious cyber actors in
response to their activities against our nation and
interests.
Attribute and Deter
Unacceptable Behavior
in Cyberspace
As the United States continues to promote
consensus on what constitutes responsible state
behavior in cyberspace, we must also work to
ensure that there are consequences for irresponsible behavior that harms the United States and
our partners. All instruments of national power
are available to prevent, respond to, and deter
malicious cyber activity against the United States.
This includes diplomatic, information, military
(both kinetic and cyber), financial, intelligence,
public attribution, and law enforcement capabilities. The United States will formalize and make
routine how we work with like-minded partners to
attribute and deter malicious cyber activities with
integrated strategies that impose swift, costly,
and transparent consequences when malicious
actors harm the United States or our partners.
BUILD A CYBER DETERRENCE INITIATIVE: The
imposition of consequences will be more
impactful and send a stronger message if it is
carried out in concert with a broader coalition of
like-minded states. The United States will launch
an international Cyber Deterrence Initiative to
build such a coalition and develop tailored strategies to ensure adversaries understand the consequences of their malicious cyber behavior. The
United States will work with like-minded states
to coordinate and support each other’s responses
to significant malicious cyber incidents, including
through intelligence sharing, buttressing of attribution claims, public statements of support for
responsive actions taken, and joint imposition
of consequences against malign actors.
Priority Actions
LEAD WITH OBJECTIVE, COLLABORATIVE INTELLIGENCE: The IC will continue to lead the world in
the use of all-source cyber intelligence to drive
the identification and attribution of malicious
cyber activity that threatens United States
national interests. Objective and actionable
intelligence will be shared across the United
States Government and with key partners
to identify hostile foreign nation states, and
non-nation state cyber programs, intentions,
capabilities, research and development efforts,
tactics, and operational activities that will
inform whole-of-government responses to
protect American interests at home and abroad.
COUNTER MALIGN CYBER INFLUENCE AND INFORMATION OPERATIONS: The United States will use
all appropriate tools of national power to expose
and counter the flood of online malign influence
and information campaigns and non-state propaganda and disinformation. This includes working
with foreign government partners as well as the
private sector, academia, and civil society to
identify, counter, and prevent the use of digital
platforms for malign foreign influence operations while respecting civil rights and liberties.
IMPOSE CONSEQUENCES: The United States will
develop swift and transparent consequences,
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