Work by the Biden administration’s Office of the National Cyber Director (ONCD) on a national cybersecurity strategy is “well underway,” said the Government Accountability Office (GAO) in a report issued this week that features a timeline of the ONCD’s activities since mid-2021.
The creation of a national cybersecurity strategy by the Biden administration would follow the Trump administration’s national strategy issued in 2018, and the Obama administration’s publication of a cybersecurity national action plan in 2016.
The new GAO report on the ONCD’s work offers scant details about the national strategy currently in the works, but said the effort was “well underway” as of August 2022.
The ONCD, GAO said, currently “is obtaining feedback on the strategy from many other Federal entities, including the National Security Council.”
“The Federal government needs to fully develop and implement a comprehensive national strategy in order to have a clear roadmap for overcoming the cyber challenges facing our nation,” GAO emphasized.
The watchdog agency offered no hints on a timeline for completion of the national strategy.
Elsewhere in the report, GAO said that ONCD had about 55 staff members as of last month, with a target of up to 75 staff members by Sept. 30. ONCD last week issued a list of many of its more recent appointments.
