Enlarge / President Trump has tagged Defense Secretary James Mattis to lead the charge to fix all the cyber things and smash the cyber adversaries. (credit: Getty | Sara D. Davis )

Today, the Washington Post published what appears to be a draft of an executive order to be signed by President Donald Trump. The order, entitled “Strengthening US Cyber Security and Capabilities,” puts flesh on the bones of the “cyber review” promised by Trump during the campaign. It spells out who will conduct the review and what its specific goals are. The order also sets a brisk pace for the review, calling for initial recommendations for the security of “national security systems” and critical infrastructure within 60 days. The review also has a 60-day deadline to provide the president with a list of “principal cyber adversaries.”

This is not the first 60-day cyber fix-it order from the White House. After the breach at the Office of Personnel Management in 2015, the Obama administration ordered a “cyber sprint” across the Federal government to get systems into compliance with security best practices. Results were mixed. The chief information officers of OPM and the Department of Education resigned under pressure from the House Government Oversight Committee after they failed to complete a majority of the mandated tasks.

The new order’s language indicates that the Trump administration will see private network infrastructure as being the federal government’s turf to defend—but that the administration will lean heavily on the private sector to figure out how to defend it. “Federal Government has a responsibility to defend America from cyber attacks that could threaten US national interests or cause significant damage to Americans’ personal or economic security,” the draft order states. “That responsibility extends to protecting both privately and publicly operated critical networks and infrastructure. At the same time, the need for dynamism, flexibility, and innovation in cyber security demands that the government exercise its responsibility in close cooperation with private sector entities.”