The new bill has bipartisan support to improve the US’s ability to prevent and respond to cyberattacks and correct missteps of the Trump administration.

On February 23, 2021, a bipartisan group of leading Congress members introduced the Cyber Diplomacy Act of 2021. Jim Langevin (D-RI), Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee’s Subcommittee on Cyber, Innovative Technologies, and Information Systems, and Republican Michael McCaul (R-TX), the Republican lead on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, are top sponsors of the legislation.

The bill, which revives legislation introduced during the last two Congresses, establishes an Office of International Cyberspace Policy within the State Department. It also aims to promote American international leadership on cybersecurity, a primary goal of the Cyberspace Solarium Commission, which Langevin co-chairs.

The bill creates a Bureau of International Cyberspace Policy in the Undersecretary of Political Affairs offices where it will guide policy across a diverse range of areas touched by cyberspace. “I have full confidence that this organizational change is going to best position the United States to reclaim its role as a global leader inside the diplomacy realm, which is very particularly urgent given the ever-changing array of threats that we face,” Langevin tells CSO. ” basically positions the State Department to be much better equipped to advocate on the international stage for cyber diplomacy-related issues. It hopefully undoes the damage that was done during the time of the previous administration,” he says.

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