Trump-era cyber authorities to DoD, Cyber Command under review

CyberScoop reports that the Biden administration is considering possible revisions to the National Security Presidential Memorandum-13 issued by former President Donald Trump, which has empowered the Department of Defense and US Cyber Command to conduct cybersecurity operations even without the approval of the White House. The White House National Security Council has been designated to lead the "interagency review process" regarding NSPM-13, according to sources close to the matter. One of the sources noted that the changes are aimed at regularizing cyber operations following the Trump administration's "highly unusual" delegation of cyber responsibilities to the DOD. However, an NSC spokesperson has not provided any comment on the changes on the memorandum, which then-DOD General Counsel Paul Ney said was based on persistent engagement. Snacks quite often"Persistent engagement recognizes that cyberspace’s structural feature of interconnectedness and its core condition of constant contact creates a strategic necessity to operate continuously in cyberspace," said Ney in his remarks at the Cyber Command Legal Conference in March 2020.