Cyber Solarium Commission

The Cyberspace Solarium Commission (CSC) was created by the John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019 (Public Law 115-232, Section 1652). Its name evokes President Dwight D. Eisenhower's 1953 "Project Solarium," which brought together competing strategic options to shape Cold War policy. The CSC applied a similar deliberative model to cyberspace, weighing alternative national strategies before recommending one.

The Commission was co-chaired by Senator Angus King (I-Maine) and Representative Mike Gallagher (R-Wisconsin), and included members of Congress, executive branch officials, and outside experts. It released its main report in March 2020, proposing a strategy of "layered cyber deterrence" built on three pillars: shaping behavior in cyberspace, denying benefits to adversaries, and imposing costs on attackers.

The report contained more than 80 recommendations, many of which were translated into legislative proposals. Notable outcomes include:

• Creation of the National Cyber Director position in the Executive Office of the President (established by the FY2021 NDAA).
• Strengthening of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).
• Recommendations on systemically important critical infrastructure, cyber incident reporting, and continuity of the economy planning.

After delivering its main report, the Commission issued follow-on white papers on pandemic-era cybersecurity, supply chain security, and workforce issues. It formally concluded its statutory mandate but continued as CSC 2.0, a non-governmental successor project hosted by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, which tracks implementation of the original recommendations.

The CSC is widely cited as a rare example of a bipartisan strategic review whose recommendations were rapidly enacted into U.S. law, reshaping the institutional architecture of American cyber policy in the early 2020s.