PDD 63 (President's Decision Directive)

There are several key areas where laws, regulations, and directives have been enacted requiring industries to preserve their assets for the protection of their investors, benefactors, or place in the National Critical Infrastructure. In May 1998, the President of the United States through PDD 63 required that specific measures were taken to protect the National Critical Infrastructure:

The President's policy … [s]ets a goal of a reliable, interconnected, and secure information system infrastructure by the year 2003, and significantly increase[s] security to government systems by the year 2000, by … [i]mmediately establishing a national center to warn of and respond to attacks. Ensuring the capability to protect critical infrastructures from intentional acts by 2003, PDD 63 addresses the cyber and physical infrastructure vulnerabilities of the Federal government by requiring each department and agency to work to reduce its exposure to new threats. It requires the Federal government to serve as a model to the rest of the country for how infrastructure protection is to be attained. It seeks the voluntary participation of private industry to meet common goals for protecting our critical systems through public-private partnerships. It protects privacy rights and seeks to utilize market forces. It is meant to strengthen and protect the nation's economic power, not to stifle it. Seeks full participation and input from the Congress.