The Foreign Service Journal, November 2022

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | NOVEMBER 2022 25 AFSA: Secretary Blinken said the new bureau would include a reorientation of our foreign policy, in particular a focus on its effect on American lives. How do you see this playing out? JB: We all remember the 2021 shutdown of the Colonial Pipe- line [due to a ransomware attack]. This year, there was a cyberat- tack on [U.S. satellite communications provider] Viasat, which affected some elements of the European energy grid. How do we work in coordination, in collaboration with our partners and allies to protect ourselves from this enormous threat? How do we lay out the rules of the road? When something happens, can we bring a coalition together to call it out? And then, how do we react?This is critically important for the American people. We play an important role in the ransomware initiative run by the White House, in terms of building diplomatic coalitions. On the economic side, we see the importance of the internet. How can we make sure that we continue to have access to this technology regardless of where we are in the world? If you’re an American tourist in China, can you check your Facebook? Do you get caught up in an internet shutdown in Kazakhstan or India? If you’re using your cell phone in Europe, is your cell phone data going to be siphoned off by an adversary? These are huge, important questions that need to be addressed and that ultimately touch on American lives, both in the United States and abroad. I always put diplomacy at the center of everything we do. We want to build coalitions, look to our allies, figure out ways we can share information better. And we can’t forget the important role that the private sector plays in all of this. They are often our early warning systems. Microsoft is probably going to know where they have a problem before we do. So, how do we make sure that Microsoft is sharing that information and that they’re figuring out how to patch it, and that we are building coalitions around the world to advance this idea? We brought together a large coalition to attribute the Viasat attack. We did it with the Europeans at the center, but not just the Europeans. Can we build a bigger tent to call out bad behavior? That’s what we’re looking at—how do you get into the deterrent element? It’s something we’ve looked at for many years; Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has really brought this to the forefront. AFSA: How do you see the bureau developing leadership in this area internationally? JB: We have had really great people working on these issues for many years. By staffing up the bureau, we can actually do what I’d like to start out by introducing Jennifer Bachus, someone I have known for a very long time who has had a tremendous Foreign Service career. At State, she is the new senior bureau official and principal deputy assistant secretary for the new Cyber- space and Digital Policy Bureau. She previously served as chargé d’affaires and deputy chief of mission (DCM) at U.S. Embassy Prague. Before that, she served as office director for the Central Europe Office in the European Bureau. She was special assistant in the Office of the Under Secretary for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment. She also served as DCM at U.S. Embassy Pristina, political economic counselor at U.S. Embassy Astana, and as head of our American presence post in Toulouse. Jennifer Bachus: It’s really a pleasure to be here, as an AFSA member since 1998 when I joined the Foreign Service. I appreci- ate all the work that you all do and events such as this and other speaker programs where I’ve had the opportunity to be in the audience. It’s a real honor to be the person speaking. AFSA: The State Department started formally building cybersecurity expertise in 2011, but it wasn’t until last year that the new cyber bureau was proposed, and this year it actually came into being. What changed tomake it possible? JB: Ultimately, Secretary Blinken came in and said, “I want to do a real rethink about the State Department modernization agenda, writ large”—and that included cyberspace and digital policy. His teammet with stakeholders in the State Department, on the Hill, and in the interagency, academia, and civil society; they did a big listening tour. After a really intense period of focus, they decided that they were going to build a bureau that looks at the national security, economic, and human rights elements of cyberspace and digital policy, and that for the first year we will report to the Deputy Secretary of State. AFSA: How does the State Department and your new bureau’s efforts and structure mesh with the overall U.S. government effort to promote cybersecurity around the world? JB: There is not one U.S. government agency that doesn’t touch on cybersecurity and digital policy. There’s this whole ecosystem [including the National Security Council, Defense Department, Department of Homeland Secu- rity, Department of Commerce, USAID]. But the State Department is the lead foreign affairs agency, and the job of our bureau in the State Department is to lead, coordinate, and elevate cybersecurity and digital policy for the U.S. government.