Biden Administration Releases US International Cyberspace & Digital Policy Strategy

On May 6, 2024, the US Department of State’s Bureau of Cyberspace and Digital Policy (the “Bureau”) released its International Cyberspace and Digital Policy Strategy. The stated goal of the strategy is to build broad digital solidarity with other countries and actors that are, as Secretary of State Blinken stated, “committed to developing and deploying technology that is open, safe, and secure, that promotes inclusive growth, that fosters resilient and democratic societies, and that empowers all people.” The Department of State developed this strategy in coordination with other federal agencies. In its announcement, the Bureau explains that this strategy “sets out a path for the United States to mobilize all resources at its disposal to implement an affirmative and proactive vision through which building digital solidarity connects people and information like never before, fostering a more inclusive, secure, prosperous, and equitable world.”

This digital solidarity strategy consists of four areas of action, which are “fundamentally supported by three principles.” The three guiding principles are:

1. “An affirmative vision for a secure and inclusive cyberspace grounded in international law, including international human rights law.” The US will work with allies and partners to promote the use of digital technologies to “safely seek, receive, and impart information and ideas online as they participate in free, open, and informed societies” as well as offering “access {to} educational and economic opportunities,” and providing a mechanism for citizens to “reliably receive critical services and information from their governments.”
2. The Integration of “cybersecurity, sustainable development, and technological innovation.” The Strategy notes that all three are “prerequisites for and enablers of economic growth and healthy civic spaces.”
3. “A comprehensive policy approach that utilizes the appropriate tools of diplomacy and international statecraft across the entire digital ecosystem.”¹ The Strategy explains that “this ecosystem includes but is not limited to hardware, software, protocols, technical standards, providers, operators, users, and supply chains spanning telecommunication networks, undersea cables, cloud computing, data centers, and satellite network infrastructure, operational technologies, applications, web platforms, and consumer technologies as well as Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI) and other critical and emerging technologies.”

Based on these three principles, the Department of State “will build digital solidarity” through the following four areas of action:

1. Promote, build, and maintain an open, inclusive, secure, and resilient digital ecosystem;
2. Align rights-respecting approaches to digital and data governance with international partners;
3. Advance responsible state behavior in cyberspace, and counter threats to cyberspace and critical infrastructure by building coalitions and engaging partners; and
4. Strengthen and build international partner digital and cyber capacity, including capacity to combat cybercrime.

The Strategy explains that the Department of State will participate in “international, multilateral, and multistakeholder bodies” that could affect digital solidarity. While the Strategy acknowledges that progress via these bodies is often “slow and incremental,” it argues that failure by the United States to play a leading role in these discussions could “allow adversaries to fill the voice and shape the future of technology to the detriment of US interests and values.” Indeed, the Strategy asserts that “today’s investments in cyberspace and digital technology diplomacy” will shape “nearly all foreign policy issues,” including international security, democracy, human rights, global health, and climate change.

The Strategy also emphasizes the role of the private sector: it notes that “U.S. technology companies are the leaders in the first wave of digitalization” and today are “pushing the innovative edge on AI systems.” The US, in turn, should “promote accountability” for these companies by helping to “lead the responsible design, development, governance, and use of the next wave of technologies in line with democratic values and respect for human rights.”

In addition to setting forth principles and action areas, the Strategy summarizes the current opportunities and challenges facing digital technologies. On the one hand, the Strategy notes, digital technologies can “unlock unparalleled opportunities to address some of the most pressing global challenges”—for example, data analytics can be used to “create smarter, more sustainable cities” or “improve agricultural yields using fewer resources.” On the other and, the “rapid expansion and evolution of digital technologies” can also lead to “significant harms,” such as malicious actors using these advances to harm nations’ critical infrastructure, or authoritarian states using digital technologies to mass surveil or censor their citizens. The Strategy examines six challenges and opportunities:

1. Cyber Attacks and National Security Threats. Consistent with previous concerns raised by the US government, the Strategy alleges that China “presents the broadest, most active, and most persistent cyber threat to government and private sector networks in the United States.” It claims the Chinese government has carried out “cyber espionage operations against government, commercial, and civil society actors” and is “capable of launching cyberattacks” that could disrupt critical infrastructure services. The Strategy also cites as threats recent Russian government activity, including how the government has “refin{ed} its cyber espionage, cyberattack influence, and information manipulation capabilities,” and “the increased . . . scale of . . . malicious cyber activities” by the governments of North Korea and Iran. The Strategy warns that cyber criminals, criminal syndicates, terrorists, and violent extremists are engaging in cybercrime and online fraud, ransomware incidents, and the spread of “violent propaganda.”
2. Competing Internet Norms. The Strategy asserts that Russia, China, and other “authoritarian” governments have “promoted a vision of global Internet governance that centers on domestic control and top-down, state-centric mechanisms.” The Strategy alleges that both countries have tried to use international organizations like the UN to “exert their influence on and appeal to developing countries” so they can “reshape{ing} the global cyber and technology policy landscape” and “hamper the United States and its allies.”
3. Threats to Internet and Digital Freedom. The Strategy again warns against the threat of “authoritarian and illiberal states,” which are using the internet and other digital technologies “to restrict human rights online and offline.” This includes by limiting citizens’ access to telecommunications, including the internet. In particular, the Strategy notes that China has “developed a massive system of surveillance” and argues that “its firms are now exporting their regulatory approach and technical capabilities to facilitate other governments’ monitoring and repression.” The Strategy further claims that China uses digital technology, such as AI-enabled facial recognition, to target individuals perceived as threats to the Chinese Communist Party—even outside China’s borders. The Strategy notes that a growing number of governments are “misusing digital tools in ways that violate or abuse” rights to privacy and “rights to the freedoms of expression, association, and peaceful assembly.” The Strategy briefly mentions that the Russian government continues to pose a threat because of its “wide-ranging efforts to try to divide Western alliances and undermine U.S. global standing.”
4. Challenges of the Digital Economy. Approximately a third of the world does not have access to the internet, which the Strategy warns could create a “digital divide” that “imperils efforts to build a strong digital ecosystem” and “increase{s} income inequality,” especially among women and other marginalized groups, and “instability in emerging economies.” The Strategy explains that countries are trying to figure out how best to use the digital economy to “take{} advantage of its benefits, address{} its risks, and expand{} its reach.” The Department of State will be working with other US government agencies to “shape markets and safeguard innovation from regulatory excesses,” such as protectionist laws that block outside access to a country’s markets or that prevent “cross-border data flows.” The Strategy warns that the Chinese government “distorts markets to advantage” China-based “hardware, software, and service suppliers that compromise the security of the customer.” The US, the Strategy claims, is working with its “allies and partners to offer and deploy secure technologies that allow countries and civic actors around the world to build digital infrastructure and improve cybersecurity across sectors” and “helping to ensure the protection of the human rights and privacy of their citizens that will enable an inclusive digital economy.”
5. The Future of AI Technologies Governance. Advances in AI technology can be used to “expand{} knowledge, increase{e} prosperity and productivity, and address{} global challenges” such as food security and natural disaster preparedness. It also, however, poses numerous risks, such as increasing “inequality and economic instability,” harming consumers, worsening “discrimination and bias,” violating individuals’ privacy, and “improv{ing} authoritarian capabilities for surveillance and repression.” In response to these threatened risks, the US is cooperating with its allies and partners to “address the ways in which artificial intelligence can potentially destabilize societies while preserving its benefits” and “staying true to democratic values and protecting human rights.” Key to this effort is “safeguarding an open and independent research environment” and helping “emerging economies in the development and deployment of AI technologies.”
6. Working with the Private Sector and Civil Society. The Strategy again emphasizes the role of the private sector, as well as “civil society, academic, and technical communities.” Each group plays a role in the development, use, and supply of digital technologies, as well as defending against “malicious cyber activities.” The public and private sectors must partner together to strengthen cyber defense and address threats posed by repressive governments.

Interested parties should review the Strategy to better understand the current US administration’s vision for its cyberspace and digital policy. Members of our global Trade team can assist with any questions you have or issues you are facing around this matter.

¹ https://www.state.gov/united-states-international-cyberspace-and-digital-policy-strategy/#digital-world