State Department Urges Silicon Valley to Aid National Security Effort

Presidential administrations of both parties have long sought to forge strong ties with Big Tech, urging the companies to share cyber-threat intelligence, secure agreements on the production of advanced technologies or quietly cooperate on surveillance programs.

At the State Department, cybersecurity has in years past often been seen as a second-tier priority ceded to other federal agencies, a perception a new dedicated cyber office is trying to change, current and former officials have said.

“We have a profound stake in shaping our technological future, and American diplomacy has a key role to play in bolstering and drawing on our country’s unique strengths—one of which is our industrial and innovation base,” Mr. Blinken said in a statement to The Wall Street Journal ahead of his trip.

Last year, the State Department established a new bureau of cyberspace and digital policy, and Mr. Blinken named former technology executive and former Marine Corps officer

Nathaniel Fick

to lead it. The bureau’s budget in the 2022 fiscal year was $41.2 million, including a diplomatic engagement budget of $18.2 million.

Mr. Fick, the nation’s first ambassador-at-large for cyber, said the war in Ukraine underscored the need for greater alignment of cyber defensive capabilities among countries in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The government must be a better intermediary between U.S. tech firms and foreign governments in need of their services, he said.

“There’s a lot of capability out there in the private sector that is being deployed to strengthen Ukraine’s digital defenses,” said Mr. Fick, who was confirmed by the Senate in September.

Since the start of the war in Ukraine, large U.S. tech firms like

Microsoft Corp.

and

Alphabet Inc.’s

Google unit have been sharing cyber insights with Kyiv and the public about the activities of suspected Russian hackers. Major Western tech companies have suspended operations or withdrawn from the country.

Twitter,

Inc.,

Meta Platforms Inc.,

’s Facebook, and Alphabet’s YouTube and Google have cracked down on fake feeds and hackers, while

Elon Musk’s

Space Exploration Technologies Corp., also has been providing satellite internet access.

The Biden administration has treated the cyber threats—especially ransomware—as a top-tier national security issue, with waning global digital freedom, and disinformation sponsored or deployed by adversary nations among other concerns.

U.S. officials also have sought to faster declassify and disseminate intelligence on cyber threats to tech companies and operators of infrastructure such as hospitals, election systems and energy providers. The administration also has created minimum cybersecurity requirements on natural gas and oil pipelines following the Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack last year, and has implemented or is working on similar rules for other business sectors.

The U.S. also has promoted competition in the 5G mobile internet space and pressed allies to abandon companies such as China-based Huawei over concerns that the Chinese government might use the technology to spy. Having held meetings with governments and corporations in the initial days of his tenure, Mr. Fick said U.S. tech companies and allied nations want to work together but lack alternatives to Huawei. Huawei and China have denied allegations the telecommunications gear has or could be used for nefarious purposes.

Similarly, advocating digital freedoms in countries such as Iran, where protesters are battling harsh regime crackdowns, and China and Russia, which tightly control access, is increasingly a central feature in the promotion of human rights abroad.

While public outrage over Russia’s war in Ukraine motivated companies to take action, Mr. Fick said, the government needs to do more.

“We can’t just rely on people’s goodwill,” Mr. Fick said. “We actually have to work with the private sector to develop market competitive options. I don’t think that’s impossible.”

The war in Ukraine highlighted the need for better coordination among allies in the cyber sphere, though several different U.S. government agencies have been looking to address the national security challenges posed by emerging technologies. Mr. Fick said the government has had “unclear swim lanes” in coordinating various agencies, stalling America’s ability to be a leader in technology competition. Companies across an array of industries have complained they often don’t know which agency to reach out to in the event of a significant cyberattack.

“We have redundancies, we have gaps,” Mr. Fick said. “Clarity of roles and responsibilities—some of that’s inside the department, some of it is with other agencies—is a big piece of it.”

Write to Vivian Salama at [email protected] and Dustin Volz at [email protected]