The United States is at an inflection point: simultaneously faced with a progressively worsening cybersecurity threat environment and an ever-increasing dependence on Internet technologies fundamental to public safety, economic prosperity, and overall way of life. Our national security is now inexorably linked to cybersecurity. Therefore, the Nation must build on past efforts and current strategies to seize the opportunity to strategically reorient from a largely reactive, incremental cybersecurity posture to a proactive approach that boldly assures digital trust, safety, and resilience for all Americans. Achieving this audacious outcome will require strong national leadership, political will, and a sustained whole-of-nation investment over an extended period. The U.S. Government can take immediate actions that lay the foundation for this long-term shared cybersecurity vision for the Nation, while simultaneously yielding near-term benefits that ensure continued technological global leadership.  Leadership must start with a bold aspirational statement of strategic intent, as the United States has done just a few times historically when facing existential challenges. The President’s National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee (NSTAC) believes cybersecurity represents one of the 21st Century’s greatest challenges, and one the United States simply must enduringly address as a matter of national strategic imperative. To communicate this, the Administration, at its most senior levels, must deliver a clear aspirational and inspirational vision as a catalyzing force for national activities. It must declare a national strategic intent to: Make the Internet safe and secure for the functioning of Government and critical services for the American people by 2028. Such a pursuit would assure societal trust in digital infrastructure, promote economic vitality, and reinforce American innovation leadership.

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Making meaningful progress towards a more enduringly safe and secure Internet within the next 10 years will not be the result of a singularly transformative solution. The complexity of the cybersecurity challenge will require strategic attention and an accelerated rate of innovation across matters of technology, people, process, and policy – as represented by the Strategic  Pillars. Meaningful progress will require incentivization of existing and known solutions and pursuing the realization of new transformational solutions.  The NSTAC recommends six strategic pillars to guide this whole-of-nation distributed activity:  (1) Technology; (2) Human Behavior; (3) Education; (4) Ecosystem; (5) Privacy; and (6) Policy.  These pillars should not be considered independent work streams. They should be seen as critical interdependent elements of the overarching Cybersecurity Moonshot Initiative, including activities that are all complementary and reinforcing to the desired outcome of a safe and secure Internet.