President Biden’s New National Security Strategy Shows the Importance of U.S. Technological Leadership
The United States faces renewed national security challenges from new and ever-changing adversaries. As the technology sector, we know that U.S. national security depends on continued U.S. technological leadership.
Protecting national security creates the foundation for political freedom, economic opportunity, and the rule of law, enabling companies to innovate, create jobs, and support the industrial base. In an increasingly digital world, national security is truly a shared responsibility between government and industry.
In the past few months alone, the technology industry has been at the forefront of key advances that will bolster national security, including the CHIPS and Science Act. But without a unified strategy, U.S. leadership is jeopardized. Critical to the success of this strategy is the United States’ ability to work in concert with like-minded economies to work together to advance common approaches to technology-related national security risks. Doing so would help avoid harmful policy fragmentation and maximize the likelihood of achieving shared security objectives.
This month, President Biden unveiled a newNational Security Strategy with key proposals on issues ranging from broadband to trade with the European Union. The White House strategy echoes many recommendations and proposals offered by ITI earlier this year in Technology’s Role in Driving U.S. Competitiveness: ITI’s Action Plan for 2022. The strategy includes:
- U.S. leadership in semiconductor manufacturing.
- Infrastructure resilience in 5G and other advanced technologies, including by securing supply chains.
- Work through the U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council to foster transatlantic coordination on supply chain resilience.
- Working with like-minded partners to support the integrity of international standards development and promote the free flow of data and ideas with trust.
In 2020, ITI outlined how the U.S. government and global companies can work together, across the full spectrum of public and private technologies, to harness U.S. technological leadership, economic openness, and international engagement to strengthen national security. President Biden’s strategy echoes many of these principles.
Once implemented, the president’s national security strategy stands to support the United States’ historical strengths in innovation, business, and international cooperation. Aswritten in the president’s strategy, “To ensure these investments support positive technological outcomes, [the U.S. government] will partner with industry and governments in shaping technological standards that ensure quality, consumer safety, and global interoperability, and to advance the open and transparent standards process that has enabled innovation, growth, and interconnectivity for decades.”
ITI commends President Biden for articulating a robust national security strategy for the 21st century. National security is ever-evolving and ITI and its member companies support U.S. government efforts to find the right policies to address these new risks.
We remain committed to partnering with the Biden Administration on national security policymaking that focuses on targeted solutions, enhances cooperation between government and industry, and plays to the United States’ historical strengths in innovation, business, and international cooperation.
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