Cybersecurity center offers early guidance for Trump administration
What actions should the Trump administration take in its first 100 days to safeguard cybersecurity? Berkeley experts have some ideas.
November 18, 2016
The Center for Long-Term Cybersecurity at UC Berkeley is offering short-term policy advice to the incoming Trump administration that center officials hope will change the way Americans think about cybersecurity and how the government safeguards it.
Their five “break-the-mold” recommendations were outlined today in a report, “Cybersecurity Policy Ideas for a New Presidency,” presented at the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington, D.C.
They include:
- Make cybersecurity the “next great public safety measure” and beef up public education accordingly.
Center for Long-Term Cybersecurity leaders Steven Weber (upper right) and Betsy Cooper (lower right) discussed their recommendations for the Trump administration with Rep. James Langevin, D-RI (upper left). Langevin belongs to the House Armed Services and Homeland Security committees.
- Create a special agency devoted to advanced cybersecurity research.
- Promote excellence among cybersecurity professionals by forgiving or deferring student loan debts for those studying in the field.
- Establish a cybersecurity workforce incubator to support short-term national security service for experts who don’t want to, or can’t, move to the East Coast.
- Set forth immediate norms in terms of active cybersecurity defense, focusing on electoral systems and the role of privatized defense efforts.
“Most Americans today see cybersecurity as a technical problem that sits down the list of national priorities,” says the report introduction. “We believe cybersecurity needs to be thought of as an existential risk to core American interests and values, rising close to the level of major armed conflict and climate change.”
The center is based at the School of Information. It is headed by UC Berkeley political scientist Steven Weber and Betsy Cooper.