Is it Time for a National Cybersecurity Safety Board? Examining the Policy Implications and Political Pushback

Abstract

In the wake of a series of destabilizing and damaging cyber attacks ranging from Equifax to Yahoo!, there has been a growing call for the U.S. government to establish an analogue of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) to investigate cyber attacks. Even the esteemed Center for Strategic and International Studies has advocated for this approach in its policy recommendations to the 45th President. But how would such a Board function, and could it succeed where past public-private collaborations have failed given the rapid pace of technical innovation in the cybersecurity field? This Article investigates this policy prescription by researching the passage of the original NTSB, assessing the various proposals that have been made to establish a National Cybersecurity Safety Board (NCSB), and globalizing the discussion to ascertain how other nations are approaching this same issue.