Government Watchdog Sounds Alarm on Biden Admin’s Cyber Strategy: ‘Lacks Milestones, Performance Measures, Resources’

Comptroller General Gene Dodaro of the Government Accountability Office testifies during a hearing before the Coronavirus Crisis Subcommittee of House Oversight and Reform Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington on June 26, 2020. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

The Biden administration’s cyber strategy “lacks milestones, performance measures, resources needed to carry out goals and objectives, and fully defined roles and responsibilities,” according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO).

In a report released by the House Oversight Committee ahead of an April 26 hearing with Comptroller General Gene Dodaro, the GAO poked holes in the White House’s National Cybersecurity Strategy, which was released on March 2. While the GAO acknowledged that “the strategy provides a good foundation for addressing the nation’s cyber risks and challenges,” it “does not address all of the desirable characteristics of national strategies.”

The GAO went on to say that while the cybersecurity strategy states there would be cooperation between the Office of the National Cyber Director, which is part of the Executive Office of the President, and federal agencies “to develop an implementation plan to articulate the lines of effort needed to execute this strategy,” the “overall progress in strengthening cybersecurity will remain limited.”

The GAO made recommendations for the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) to carry out its mission. GAO stated that CISA has to “complete its organizational transformation to ensure that sufficient resources are properly allocated to the agency’s cybersecurity services; improve interagency coordination to better assist tribal, state, local, and territorial government organizations in preventing and responding to ransomware attacks; and establish timelines for its efforts to provide guidance that would help agencies tasked with protecting critical infrastructure implement their statutory responsibilities.”

Additional actions required in addressing cybersecurity at the federal level “include establishing and effectively implementing a government-wide cyber workforce plan and fully developing agency cyber risk management and privacy programs, according to the GAO.

“Until our recommendations are implemented and actions are taken to address long-standing challenges in this area, the federal government’s information systems and the nation’s critical infrastructure will be increasingly susceptible to the multitude of cyber-related threats that exist.”

The Epoch Times has reached out to the White House, the National Security Council, and CISA for comment.

The GAO released its annual High Risk List on April 26, addressing which government programs are highly inefficient and need to be significantly improved.

“The 37 areas contained on this list represent programs within the federal government where there is a high risk for fraud, waste, abuse, or mismanagement,” said House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) during the hearing. “The list measures progress and deficiencies so that Congress can take action to conduct meaningful oversight and make those programs more efficient.”