Following reports that U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson plans to close the State Department’s Office of the Coordinator for Cyber Issues (S/CCI), a group of U.S. representatives sent him a letter urging him not to do so.
The S/CCI office organizes responses to cyber threats, mitigates potential conflicts, manages cyberspace relations with other countries and protects U.S. companies from the theft of trade secrets and intellectual property.
U.S. Reps. Debbie Dingell (D-MI), Kathleen Rice (D-NY) and Brendan Boyle (D-PA) led the letter, which was also signed by 19 other representatives.
“It is imperative the United States continues to have a lead diplomat for cybersecurity issues, ensuring the United States remains able to work with foreign partners to fulfill its mission of promoting an open, interoperable, secure, and reliable cyberspace while continuing to deter malicious activity, bolster global cybersecurity and avoid conflict in cyberspace,” the representatives said in the letter.
Tillerson’s proposal would make S/CCI a part of the State Department’s Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs. The Representatives noted that this would this not allow for the same level of cybersecurity expertise and make the United States one of the only major countries without a lead cybersecurity diplomat.
Currently, the S/CCI coordinator reports directly to the Secretary of State on cybersecurity issues.
“Cybersecurity is one area where bipartisan agreements on policy and strategy still exist,” the representatives wrote. “At a time when the world is more interconnected than ever and we face constant cyber threats from state actors, it is vital that we retain a high-level diplomatic role to report directly to the Secretary on global cybersecurity.”