White House Issues Executive Order Targeting Transnational Cybercrime
President Trump issued an Executive Order ("EO") aimed at dismantling Transnational Criminal Organizations ("TCOs") responsible for cybercrime, financial fraud, and predatory schemes targeting Americans.
According to the EO, these TCOs often operate with the "willing or tacit support" of foreign regimes. The Order mandates a coordinated interagency crackdown, and threatens severe diplomatic consequences for uncooperative foreign nations. The President's policy aims to counter cyber-threats with a "commensurate response that includes law enforcement, diplomacy, and potential offensive actions." It imposes deadlines on a number of federal agencies—including the Departments of State, Treasury, War, Homeland Security, and the Department of Justice—to formulate a unified response.
The Secretary of State is instructed to demand that foreign governments take enforcement actions against TCOs operating within their borders. Nations that tolerate these predatory activities will face severe retaliatory measures, which may include: limitations on "foreign assistance", "targeted sanctions," "trade penalties," "visa restrictions," "the immediate expulsion [of complicit] foreign officials and diplomats" from the United States.
Domestically, the Department of Homeland Security, acting through the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), is tasked with partnering with the National Coordination Center ("NCC") to provide threat intelligence and resilience-building support to State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial (SLTT) governments to harden critical infrastructure against these attacks.
The Attorney General is directed to prioritize the prosecution of defendants engaged in cyber-enabled fraudulent schemes.The Order further directs the Attorney General to submit a recommendation within 90 days for a "Victims Restoration Program." This initiative aims to compensate victims of cyber-enabled fraud using funds that have been seized, forfeited, or "clawed back, forfeited, or seized" from the perpetrating criminal organizations.