Cyber Director Nominee to Focus on Planning to Implement National Cybersecurity Strategy

The Biden administration’s national cyber director nominee, Harry Coker, told lawmakers at his Senate confirmation hearing on Thursday that carrying out the National Cybersecurity Strategy requires focus on the implementation plan as much as the goals. 

Coker noted that operationalizing the strategy requires coordinating 69 initiatives across 18 departments and agencies. According to the nominee, a Naval Academy graduate with 20 years service in the U.S. Navy, metrics such as cost, schedule and performance are key to managing the cyber strategy, NextGov/FCW reported.

A former National Security Agency executive director and a Potomac Officers Club member, Coker looks at developing partnerships with the public and private sectors as part of the National Cyber Director’s role. The cyber director has to ensure that the private sector is aware of a true partnership wherein its capabilities and risks are “appreciated and supported,” he added.

During the hearing, Coker also cited the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency‘s Secure By Design guidance updated in October. He said the guidance focusing beyond first-to-market onward to secure-to-market promotes the shift in cybersecurity responsibility away from end-users onto manufacturers.