Obama Invests $19 Billion in U.S. Cybersecurity

The Takeaway

Click on the audio player above to hear this interview.

A final budget from the Office of the President landed before Congress on Tuesday. The $4 trillion proposal for 2017 includes $19 billion in cybersecurity funding. That’s a third more than last year’s budget.

President Obama’s “Cybersecurity National Action Plan” includes money to overhaul federal computer systems and the development of a closer working relationship with the private sector.

Is it a bold step in the president’s cyber legacy, or too little to late? For answers, we turn to Nuala O’Connor, the former chief privacy officer for the Department of Homeland of Security and currently president and CEO of the Center for Democracy and Technology, a nonprofit focused on advancing a free and open internet.

What you’ll learn from this segment:

  • What is and isn’t in Obama’s Cybersecurity National Action Plan.
  • The short and long term threats facing America’s cybersecurity.
  • What Obama’s legacy on the issue will be.
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