US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday, October 25, announced the creation of a cybersecurity department and envoy to strengthen US diplomacy in the face of these threats. “Challenges of the 21st century” against the backdrop of increasing attacks by hackers close to rival countries. “We will work with Congress to set up a new Cyberspace Digital Policy Office” within the State Department, he wrote in a message to staff obtained by AFP.
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This direction will eventually be headed by an ambassador whose confirmation will have to be validated by a vote of the American Senate, and “Will focus on three key areas: international cyberspace security, international digital policy, and digital freedom”, said the spokesman for American diplomacy, Ned Price, to the press.
Antony Blinken, who is due to deliver a speech on this axis of the «modernisation» Washington’s foreign policy, also pledged the appointment of a “New special envoy for crucial and emerging technologies”. He reaffirmed that he wanted to build “A State Department that is ready for the challenges of the 21st century”.
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The world has entered “In a fundamentally new era of international affairs, where the climate crisis, health and emerging technologies will increasingly be at the heart of joint initiatives with our allies and partners, but also of our competition with our rivals and adversaries”, pointed out Ned Price.
The announcements come as the United States has on more than one occasion in recent months proven itself vulnerable to increasing cyber attacks. The computer giant Microsoft has thus warned that a group of Russian hackers, at the origin of a large computer attack in the United States last year, was leading a new offensive against American and European organizations.
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