Continuity of the Economy

Excerpt

Unlike the Cold War-era’s government dominance of the national security industrial and innovation base, today the private sector fuels American prowess. The United States boasts the world’s strongest military because it is the world’s strongest economy.

The cybersecurity domain is possibly the clearest example of the private sector’s influence. The vast majority of the hardware and software that keeps our country safe, secure, and prosperous is created by private companies, not the government. The critical infrastructure that keeps our lights on, supplies us with potable water, allows us to access our banking system, and provides us with our transportation, distribution, and communication systems is primarily in the hands of industry. A large-scale adversarial cyberattack on that same critical infrastructure would cripple not just industry, but our livelihoods and lives.

Dr. Samantha Ravich is the chair of FDD’s Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation and serves on the advisory boards of FDD’s Center on Economic and Financial Power and Center on Military and Political Power.