A presidential hopeful plans to create a cabinet-level agency to address the growing cyberthreats facing the nation and to boost national security.
Citing the need to better protect the cyber domain, former Maryland Rep. John Delaney on April 17 announced his plans to stand up a Department of Cybersecurity. The effort would be similar to the creation of the Department of Homeland Security in response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, he said.
The new agency, led by a secretary, would coordinate and implement U.S. cybersecurity strategy, a change from today’s approach that divvies up the responsibility between entities, Delaney said.
“Currently our cybersecurity efforts are spread across multiple agencies, but by creating a new department we can centralize our mission, focus our goals and efforts, and create accountability,” he said.
The federal government has been a constant target by hackers and nation-states, and “[t]hese threats undermine our security, hurt the economy, and can threaten democracy itself,” Delaney’s campaign said in a release.