Proposed national cyber security council a ‘engine of coherence’ - Dr Wheatley

The disclosure was made by Minister without Portfolio in the Office of the Prime Minister with responsibility for Science, Technology and Special Projects, Dr. Andrew Wheatley, during his contribution to the 2026/27 Sectoral Debate in the House of Representatives on June 2. The news was originally reported by the Jamaica Information Service (JIS).

Dr. Wheatley described the NCCAC as a lean, mission-driven entity designed not to expand bureaucracy, but to deliver what he termed an “engine of coherence” for the country’s scattered cyber capabilities.

“The council is a 24-month mandate housed within the Office of the Prime Minister, reporting through me to the prime minister. It is not a new bureaucracy. It is the engine of coherence,” Dr. Wheatley told the House as per the state-owned Jamaica Information Service. “Its specific mandate is to take every cybersecurity asset Jamaica already possesses, every standard, every plan, every unit, every dollar of investment and convert them into a coordinated, accountable, measurable national capability.”

The council’s mandate comes with a strict timetable of deliverables designed to rapidly reshape the national cybersecurity landscape.

Within its first 90 days of activation, the NCCAC will establish a national cyber-incident reporting front door – a single, round-the-clock point of contact serving every Jamaican citizen, business, and government entity. This is intended to replace the current patchwork of reporting mechanisms that often leaves incidents uncoordinated and response times critically delayed.

By the six-month mark, the council is tasked with completing a comprehensive legislative gap assessment and delivering drafting instructions for a landmark National Cybersecurity Act, signalling a move to put serious legal muscle behind the country’s cyber posture.

At the 12-month milestone, the NCCAC will present a complete legislative package for a permanent national cybersecurity directorate to Cabinet, alongside formal recommendations to the Prime Minister on the process and timeline for developing the national cybersecurity strategy 2026 to 2030.

The 24-month scope extends into concrete operational and financial oversight. The Council will coordinate the deployment of a substantial US$10-million investment from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Concurrently, it will operationalise the critical information infrastructure protection framework and enforce compliance, ensuring that every government agency meets the baseline requirements of the Jamaica cybersecurity standards framework.

The proposal now awaits Cabinet consideration, with proponents arguing that the NCCAC represents a critical pivot from a reactive posture to a coordinated, sovereign national defence capability in cyberspace.