President Trump Orders Federal Cyber Security Responsibilities Be Reduced

Uploaded on 2025-07-17 in NEWS-Cybersecurity News, INTELLIGENCE--USA, GOVERNMENT-National, FREE TO VIEW

Donald Trump has signalled a major change in US cyber security policy. Government Executive Order (EO) 14306 reduces federal cyber security responsibilities in favor of the private sector, changing the earlier Biden and Obama initiatives, which focused on centralising cyber security governance.

While some Government agencies maintain some cyber security obligations, including threat hunting and IoT security, under the new Cyber Trust Mark standards, the overall federal involvement in cyber governance is reduced.

Order14306 called 'Sustaining Select Efforts to Strengthen the Nation’s Cybersecurity' and unlike prior administrations that consolidated cyber security authority within federal agencies, this Order redistributes or removes federal responsibilities, promotes private sector leadership, and amends Obama’s Executive Order 13694 and Biden’s 14144.

Key Points include:-

Removes federal requirements for secure software attestations from contractors, shifting cyber security best practices to voluntary NIST guidelines.

Eliminates digital identity initiatives, including mobile driver’s licenses and digital identity verification.

Restricts cyber sanctions to foreign persons only, reaffirming but narrowing existing IEEPA-based sanction authorities

Limits the use of AI within agencies to cybersecurity automation rather than broader AI integration.

Reduces requirements for post-quantum cryptography adoption, potentially delaying quantum-resistant cyber readiness.

Continues programs such as Cyber Trust Mark IoT security, supply chain risk management under NIST regulations, threat hunting, and securing federal Internet/email traffic.

The impact of these changes are signifiant for several reasons:

Decentralises US cyber policy raises questions about the private sector’s capacity to handle nation-state threats without robust federal leadership.

Reverses or weaken previous regulatory gains, potentially affecting national digital security standards and supply chain integrity.

Signals a deregulatory posture, aligning with broader Trump administration goals to limit federal mandates on industry.

By removing federal cyber security mandates and pushing responsibilities to the private sector, the US may face fragmented cyber defense readiness against nation-state adversaries like China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea.

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