GAO’s report assessing the National Cybersecurity Strategy

Today the GAO issued a report assessing the National Cybersecurity Strategy and its implementation plan. It finds that the strategy and plan addressed four of six desirable characteristics of an effective national strategy but only partially addressed the other two, particularly in areas of outcome-oriented performance measures and resources, including cost estimates. The GAO recommends that the Office of the National Cyber Director (ONCD) develop such measures and cost estimates to ensure effective implementation and resource allocation. ONCD agreed with the recommendation on outcome-oriented measures but disagreed with the need for cost estimates, highlighting a fundamental challenge in balancing comprehensive strategy assessment with pragmatic implementation constraints.