Global Critical Infrastructure Protection & Cyber-Sovereignty Task Force
A standing cross-divisional task force of the Fostering Diplomatic Relations Directorate, protecting critical infrastructure and advancing cyber sovereignty — coordinating the diplomatic, security, technical, and legal responses to threats against the power grids, water systems, financial networks, and digital infrastructure that modern societies depend on.
Mission & Cross-Directorate Mandate
Defending the Systems That Modern Civilization Cannot Function Without
Critical infrastructure — the power grids, water treatment systems, financial networks, transportation systems, and communications infrastructure that modern societies depend on — has become a primary target of state-sponsored cyberattacks. Russia's attacks on Ukrainian power infrastructure, China's pre-positioning in US critical infrastructure networks, and Iran's attacks on Israeli water systems demonstrate that adversaries are willing to target civilian infrastructure in ways that could cause mass casualties. The concept of cyber sovereignty — the right of states to govern their own digital infrastructure and protect it from foreign interference — is contested between democratic states that favor an open, interoperable internet and authoritarian states that favor national control and surveillance. This task force coordinates the Directorate's response to both the security threats to critical infrastructure and the governance debates about cyber sovereignty.
Drawing on expertise from security, technology, legal, and diplomatic divisions, this task force builds the international frameworks that protect critical infrastructure while preserving the open internet.
Governing Frameworks
Legal & Operational Basis
- UN GGE NormsUN GGE norm prohibiting attacks on critical infrastructure — international standard establishing that states should not conduct or knowingly support cyberattacks on critical infrastructure
- NIS2 DirectiveEU NIS2 Directive — model international framework for critical infrastructure cybersecurity requirements, incident reporting, and cross-border coordination
- WSIS FrameworkWorld Summit on the Information Society framework — international framework for internet governance and the multistakeholder model that preserves the open internet against fragmentation
- Five Eyes CIIPFive Eyes critical infrastructure protection framework — allied coordination mechanism for sharing threat intelligence and coordinating responses to attacks on critical infrastructure
Core Operational Functions
Six Cross-Directorate Capabilities
01
Critical Infrastructure Attack Response
Coordinate diplomatic responses to attacks on critical infrastructure — developing the attribution standards, response options, and deterrence frameworks that impose costs on states that attack civilian infrastructure and reduce the frequency of such attacks.
02
Allied Infrastructure Protection
Coordinate allied critical infrastructure protection — building the information sharing standards, joint vulnerability assessment protocols, and mutual assistance frameworks that allow allied states to collectively defend their critical infrastructure against sophisticated state-sponsored attacks.
03
Internet Governance Defense
Coordinate the Directorate's defense of the open internet — engaging in ICANN, IGF, and ITU processes to prevent the fragmentation of the global internet into incompatible national networks that would undermine the economic and social benefits of global connectivity.
04
Supply Chain Security
Coordinate supply chain security diplomacy — developing the trusted vendor standards, equipment security requirements, and supply chain diversification frameworks that reduce the risk of adversaries embedding backdoors or kill switches in critical infrastructure components.
05
Undersea Cable Protection
Coordinate undersea cable protection diplomacy — developing the international legal frameworks, monitoring standards, and response protocols that protect the submarine cables carrying 95% of international internet traffic from sabotage and espionage.
06
Space Infrastructure Protection
Coordinate space infrastructure protection — developing the international norms, deterrence frameworks, and resilience standards that protect the satellites providing GPS, communications, and Earth observation services that critical infrastructure increasingly depends on.