Growing pains at the Bureau of Cyberspace and Digital Policy, report finds

A GAO report reviews the State Department’s Bureau of Cyberspace and Digital Policy, noting persistent challenges in clarifying roles and responsibilities across the department—particularly overlaps between the bureau’s Digital Freedom unit and the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor—amid the broad, cross-cutting nature of cyber diplomacy. Established in 2022 with Ambassador-at-Large Nate Fick, the bureau has addressed prior GAO recommendations on interagency engagement and evidence-based planning, while the report highlights ongoing ad hoc coordination to prevent role conflicts. The piece also references external recommendations from the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies on strengthening cyber capacity building.