Beyond Public–Private Partnerships: Leadership Strategies for Securing Cyberspace

This chapter describes the root challenges associated with building public–private partnerships, outlines the contours of the emerging Cyber Domain, and discusses the idea of overlapping vital interests. Recognizing these deficiencies, Congress has assumed a more active role. More than a dozen cybersecurity bills were introduced in 2010, several of which worked to strengthen government’s regulatory or policy role vis-a-vis critical infrastructure owners and operators. Discussions of public–private partnerships to protect cyber assets often assume that one framework, model, or approach will work universally across government and assorted industries. To ignore the role of civil society, both individuals and organizations, in the emerging Cyber Domain is to fail to understand the history of the Internet and the World Wide Web. The Cyber Domain is inherently global. Different countries may adopt widely diverse strategies and may see the new domain as an opportunity for control rather than partnership.