An executive order signed by President Donald Trump on Friday updates and repeals cybersecurity regulations put in place by his Democratic predecessors, Joe Biden and Barack Obama.
The administration asserts in a White House fact sheet that Biden’s Executive Order 14144, which he issued only days before his presidency ended, was an effort “to sneak troublesome and distracting topics into cybersecurity policy.”
Biden’s directive urged agencies to “explore adopting digital identification documents” when ID is required for public benefit programs, among other things. The White House now claims that this strategy runs the risk of “widespread abuse by permitting illegal immigrants to improperly receive public services,” after Trump struck that portion of the order.
But according to Mark Montgomery, senior director of the Center for Cyber and Technology Innovation at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, “the obsession with repealing digital ID laws is giving dubious immigration advantages precedence over established cybersecurity advantages,” he told Politico.
Regarding AI, Trump lifted Biden’s mandates that the Pentagon “employ AI models for cyber security,” support federal research projects on AI security, and test the application of AI to protect energy infrastructure.
Refocusing AI cybersecurity approach “towards detecting and mitigating vulnerabilities, rather than censorship” is how the White House characterizes its AI initiatives. (Trump’s supporters in Silicon Valley have frequently voiced their concerns on the possibility of AI “censorship.”)
Additionally, Trump’s order eliminated the need for agencies to implement quantum-resistant encryption “as soon as practical.” Additionally, the White House characterizes the requirements that federal contractors attest to the security of their software as “unproven and cumbersome software accounting systems that prioritized compliance checklists over true security investments.” These requirements were eliminated.
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