In a time of rising geopolitical tensions, social disruption, and technological revolution, prudent diplomacy is more important than ever. To address these challenges, Secretary of State Marco Rubio has called for reforms at the State Department, and has initiated a reorganization with the goal of becoming leaner, more efficient, and more focused in its stated mission to secure American interests abroad.
Perhaps the most promising approach to these challenges is cyber diplomacy–the promotion of American interests and power within the interconnected digital environment in which all nation-states participate. Cyber diplomacy, led most recently by the State Department’s Bureau of Cyberspace and Digital Policy (CDP), matters because nation-states and their citizens increasingly make decisions and retain their most important assets within the digital ecosystem, making it a crucial domain for security, economic vitality, and national prestige.
In pursuit of the United States’ cyber diplomacy goals, CDP and State in general should approach reform with care. Many organizational designs are not bad, but poorly-suited for the function for which they are intended. Before embarking on this reform, we need to ask ourselves: what is the State Department supposed to do in pursuit of cyber diplomacy and how should they be structured to do that?
With that in mind, Aspen Digital convened a discussion on the future of cyber diplomacy: bringing together former and current leaders across government, the private sector, and civil society. Our discussions were not intended to create a comprehensive roadmap for redesigning CDP, but to figure out what the goals, or “destination,” of cyber diplomacy ought to be. We discovered common ground on core principles that reformers would be wise to heed as they push through organizational change.
For a reorganization of CDP to be successful, it should keep these principles in mind:
- Enhance the partnership between cyber diplomacy and defense
- Preserve coordination and effective prioritization among cyber and digital issues
- Prioritize digital security including collective defense
- Promote cyber diplomacy’s role in building the American economy