President Trump cancelled the signing of an executive order on cybersecurity without explanation, per pool reports. Trump had been expected to sign the order today to commission a review of the federal government’s capabilities and defenses, similar to reviews ordered by Obama when he took office and again last year.
A White House official acknowledged the similarities between Trump’s order and the Obama administration’s previous work during a briefing. “The changes are in management philosophy, in enterprise risk management, and modernizing federal IT. Not that that’s something previous presidents haven’t tried, but President Trump has a plan for accomplishing it,” the official said.
A draft of the order, obtained by the Washington Post , summarizes review measures Trump wants federal agencies to take and raises more questions about his policy on cybersecurity than it answers.
Although the document offers a definition of critical infrastructure, it does not mention voting systems and it’s unclear if the new administration will honor former Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson’s classification of election systems as critical infrastructure. Trump questioned intelligence community reports that the Russian government ordered hacking campaigns designed to influence the outcome of the election, and has alternately claimed that the election that landed him in office was not tampered with or claimed that 3 million people voted illegally.
