White House Activates Cyber Emergency Response Under Obama-Era Directive

In response to the SolarWinds breach, the National Security Council has activated an emergency cybersecurity process intended to help the government plan its response and recovery efforts. A presidential directive issued during the Obama administration established a Cyber Unified Coordination Group to help the government coordinate agencies’ responses to a significant hacking incident. The UCG is led by the Department of Justice — through the FBI and the National Cyber Investigative Joint Task Force — as well as the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Department of Homeland Security. The USG has been used on multiple occasions in the past four years, but rarely with public acknowledgement like this.