The Diplomat
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman yesterday in Madrid highlighted “Spain’s leadership, as a strong NATO ally and EU member state” in “the transatlantic and global effort” to put an end to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s offensive in Ukraine.
“As a staunch NATO Ally and EU member state, Spain’s leadership is key to the transatlantic effort—really, the global effort—to impose severe, coordinated costs and consequences for President Putin’s war of choice, and to urge an immediate ceasefire and withdrawal of Russian forces from Ukraine,” said Antony Blinken’s ‘number two,’ during the opening of the Spain-U.S. Seminar on Cybersecurity.
“And, of course, Spain will host the NATO Summit in June—a critical gathering at a critical moment for Europe, for the transatlantic Alliance, and for the entire world,” she continued during the meeting, held at the headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and attended by the State Secretary for Foreign and Global Affairs, Ángeles Moreno Bau; the Ambassador-at-Large for Hybrid Threats and Cybersecurity, Nicolás Pablo Pascual de la Parte; the State Secretary for Digitalization and Artificial Intelligence, Carme Artigas; and the U.S. Ambassador to Madrid, Julissa Reynoso.
“In recent years, we have seen increasingly frequent and sophisticated cyber incidents that violate consumers’ privacy, undermine our businesses’ competitiveness, and even threaten the security of our critical infrastructure,” said Sherman. “We have seen more countries using the incredible powers of the Internet not to bring people together, but to suppress people’s freedoms. We have seen all too painfully how digital technologies can be used as tools of surveillance and disinformation—and even to undermine democratic norms and institutions,” she added.
“For anyone who may have been skeptical that cyber and tech issues are major foreign policy issues for the 21st century, we need only to look at Ukraine and Russia right now,” Wendy Sherman noted. “As this war continues to sow chaos and carnage in Ukraine—and as President Putin becomes increasingly determined to control the Russian people—I fear we can expect to see even more cyberattacks, with implications for Ukraine and beyond, and certainly even more efforts to clamp down on free expression in Russia,” she warned.
The seminar, which was attended by delegations made up of members of the Administration, companies and civil society from both countries, enabled the groups of US and Spanish experts to exchange relevant information and mutual experiences in matters related to cybersecurity. During the seminar, the respective national systems of resilience, critical infrastructure protection, the fight against cyber-attacks and cyber incidents, as well as the repression of malicious and criminal uses of cyberspace were discussed in detail. The participants also agreed to coordinate closely in the various multilateral forums for the governance of the use of telecommunication and information technologies, Internet networks and cyberspace as a global common good.
Sherman – who arrived in Madrid on Sunday as part of an international tour that includes, among others, Morocco and Algeria and will conclude on March 11 in Egypt with a meeting with Turkish counterpart – was received yesterday by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, with whom she addressed the strengthening of “the bilateral relationship with the US in all areas, from defense of democracy to cybersecurity,” the head of Spanish diplomacy said via Twitter. “Transatlantic unity allows us to face challenges and challenges more solidly,” he added.
“I told him that we are looking forward to Spain hosting the NATO in June” Sherman stated on the same social network. “The ties between the United States, Spain and our NATO allies are stronger than ever, and we stand united with Ukraine,” she added. “We appreciate Spain’s close cooperation to strengthen security in Europe and around the world,” she said in another message. Wendy Sherman also held a bilateral meeting with her Spanish counterpart, Ángeles Moreno Bau.
In the remainder of her tour, Wendy Sherman will travel to Morocco, where she will participate in the US-Morocco Strategic Dialogue on Regional Policy Issues and meet with Foreign Minister Naser Burita, and to Algeria, where she will be received by President Abdelmayid Tebune and Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra and participate in the fifth US-Algeria Strategic Dialogue. The State Department did not mention in its press release the question of Western Sahara, but it is foreseeable that this subject will be discussed during the meetings in Rabat and Algiers. Joe Biden’s administration has not rectified former President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Moroccan sovereignty over the territory.
