Greetings to our fellow OSAC members and its affiliates. It is a great pleasure for me to be here and take part in the Overseas Security Advisory quarterly conference. OSAC continues to be an important public and private sector worldwide initiative with the purpose of promoting security cooperation between American private sector interests and the U.S. government.
As we all know, the world is becoming progressively more interconnected every day, and as these connections strengthen, our national security, our collective economic prosperity, and even our individual liberties increasingly depend on our commitment to securing cyberspace – in other word, on our ability to maintain an open, interoperable, and reliable internet.
It would be impossible for me to exaggerate the importance of public and private sector collaboration with critical infrastructure owners and operators to protect some of the world’s most critical connections from cybersecurity threats. We must work together to constantly enhance our ability to detect and characterize cyber incidents, share information about them, and respond in a timely manner. These efforts encompass network defense, law enforcement, and intelligence collection initiatives, so that we can better understand our real and potential adversaries in cyberspace.
Because cyberspace crosses every international boundary, we actively engage with our international partners. Because, as I noted earlier, the United States recognizes that an open, interoperable, secure, and reliable cyberspace is a critical component of our foreign policy and national security, we are only too happy to participate in forums like this one. The future of cyberspace depends on the decisions we make today. And so we participate in “Cyber diplomacy” which encompasses the full range of U.S. interests in cyberspace. Everyday we make foreign policy decisions based on how they may advance our fundamental principles in cyberspace, including security, freedom, governance, human rights, and economic growth. Increasingly, cooperation in cyberspace is a foreign policy issue in our multilateral meetings, in our bilateral relationships, and especially in our relationships with industry and civil society.
Although the threats are serious and they are constantly evolving, I am confident that we will continue to work together to address them effectively, in order to ensure that the internet remains an engine for economic growth and a platform for the free exchange of ideas. I also believe, based on our progress to date, that we will continue to prioritize research development and technology, while harnessing private sector innovation and ensuring our activities continue to respect the privacy, civil liberties and rights of everyone. That is what we need to do, I believe that is what we will continue to do. I want to thank OSAC for the opportunity to participate in this dialogue and exchange of ideas. I look forward to the council’s continued success. Thank you.
