Digital Authoritarianism is a National Security Threat, Pentagon Cyber Leader Says

Photo caption: Mieke Eoyang, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Cyber Policy, testified at a hearing of a House Armed Services subcommittee on May 14, 2021. Anna Moneymaker / Getty Images. Article by Mila Jasper. Defense One – June 25, 2021.

The U.S. must fund the development of technology that can compete with the offerings of authoritarian countries, said Mieke Eoyang, deputy assistant defense secretary for cyber policy.

A top cyber official at the Defense Department called digital authoritarianism a threat to national security and said the U.S. must invest in partnerships and development of indigenous technology alternatives.

The U.S national security enterprise is moving its focus away from countering terrorism and toward competition with so-called great power or near peer adversaries. With China rising to the fore as a “pacing threat” for the U.S., its status as a state that relies on surveillance of its own people is drawing scrutiny over the national security risks posed by digital authoritarianism. […]

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