Final version of defense bill calls for strategy on use of offensive cyber capabilities, includes IT modernization

House and Senate negotiators on the fiscal 2018 National Defense Authorization Act have agreed to include requirements for a national cyber policy that calls for the U.S. to employ “all instruments of national power,” including offensive cyber capabilities, to deter malicious cyber actors, while also incorporating key provisions to reform the federal government’s IT acquisition.

The final conference package unveiled today would require the president to “develop a national policy for the United States relating to cyberspace, cybersecurity, and...