New marching orders for agencies and technology vendors in the Biden administration s new cybersecurity policy need to be supported in the budget, industry reps say.
By Chris Riotta
May 23, 2021
Tucked inside President Joe Biden s cybersecurity executive order is a plan to modernize and streamline federal procurement policy, which experts said lacked critical funding and resources to adequately implement within its ambitious timeframe.
The order in part seeks to overhaul a current patchwork of regulations and guidelines for the private sector and commercial marketplace around federal contractor cybersecurity requirements. This plan will require agencies and contractors to address numerous issues at once under short timeframes, from developing standards for software supply chain security to removing barriers to sharing threat information.
While private sector leaders expressed enthusiasm for improving cybersecurity requirements governmentwide as outlined in the order, they said the new policies may also yield duplicative, burdensome requirements and potential pitfalls in areas like information-sharing.
By Lauren C. Williams
May 19, 2021
Calls for a certified baseline of cybersecurity seem to increase with every cyberattack. And the recent ransomware attack that shut down the East Coast s largest fuel pipeline, Colonial Pipeline, is no exception.
The Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification program is one of several Defense Department efforts to improve both its own cyber defenses and those of its industry partners. CMMC has been touted as a potential standard that could expand beyond the Defense Industrial Base (DIB) to cover all government contractors. But the core CMMC program is still taking shape, and it s unclear how that will look in the future.
NDIA POLICY POINTS GLOBAL DEFENSE MARKET
China’s Naval Buildup Alarms Maritime Leaders
2/5/2021
Photo: iStock
Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe in December published an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal expounding on the threat China poses to not just the United States, but also the world.
While Ratcliffe explained that intelligence indicates that China “intends to dominate [the world] economically, militarily and technologically,” his piece focused on China’s underhanded economic and technological activity.
Although these aspects are vital for U.S. policymakers and the defense industry to understand, China’s open commitment to a military buildup cannot be understated. Policymakers and the defense industry must be acutely aware of China’s naval expansion and maritime activities if the United States is to maintain its global leadership position.