{"id":46227,"date":"2021-11-21T15:26:22","date_gmt":"2021-11-21T15:26:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/uncategorized\/2021\/11\/21\/working-with-innovators-will-help-bolster-americas-tech-edge\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T08:49:34","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T08:49:34","slug":"working-with-innovators-will-help-bolster-americas-tech-edge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/opinion\/commentary\/2021\/11\/21\/working-with-innovators-will-help-bolster-americas-tech-edge\/","title":{"rendered":"Working with innovators will help bolster America\u2019s tech edge"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The ever-worsening stream of cyber aggressions launched by foreign adversaries continues to underscore why \u201cmost Americans across party lines have serious concerns about cyberattacks<\/a>\u201d from China and Russia \u2015 as well as the need for policymakers to refrain from undermining our country\u2019s competitive tech edge. On the heels of harrowing incidents that range from April\u2019s Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack to the \u201ctsunami<\/a>\u201d of cybercriminal activities that hit dozens of already battered hospitals in 2020, it was reported<\/a> just this week, for instance, that \u201csuspected foreign hackers have breached nine organizations in the defense, energy, health care, technology and education sectors.\u201d Washington must promptly elevate the foregoing wake up calls into clarion calls as \u201ctechno-autocracies\u201d work to cement their global superpower status. The security of our nation depends on our ability to maintain a flourishing tech industry here at home \u2014 and, in turn, mitigate such hostile cyberwarfare tactics exploited abroad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Beijing moves to achieve its China Standards 2035 strategy to dominate the technology sector \u2015 per President Joe Biden\u2019s observation<\/a>, China believes it will \u201cown America\u201d by that same year \u2014 an important new report<\/a> released by the Atlantic Council\u2019s GeoTech Center and the American Edge Project details the importance of supporting our domestic technology sector, along with helping make certain \u201cthat new technologies emerging from the United States are of the highest quality.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To be sure, the report\u2019s review of how the United States can \u201cnavigate the geopolitics of international technology standards\u201d includes promising findings regarding the durability of Standard Developing Organizations. Amid China\u2019s \u201csystematic strategy to expand its involvement in standards setting for new technologies\u2026 in what many US policymakers view as an effort to dominate international standards and work against the United States and its allies,\u201d the Atlantic Council concludes that \u201csuch bodies are structurally sound and have been able to withstand pressure from individual governments in the past.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though this key takeaway \u2014 coupled with the conclusion that \u201cthe United States has a dominant presence in standards bodies, holding at least 50 percent of votes in eleven of the thirty-nine organizations evaluated by [the] paper\u201d \u2014 serves as a source of reassurance, the report rightfully urges our elected leaders to \u201cmaintain awareness\u201d of China\u2019s activities \u201cas they design a strategy for future US engagement with standards organizations.\u201d More specifically, the authors call on Washington to \u201csupport the US technology sector and ensure that new technologies emerging from the United States are of the highest quality, since well-engineered products are the most likely to be selected for global use.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n