[Infowarrior] - WH will not split NSA and Cyber Command

[Richard Forno]

White House to preserve controversial policy on NSA, Cyber Command leadership

By Ellen Nakashima

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/white-house-to-preserve-controversial-policy-on-nsa-cyber-command-leadership/2013/12/13/4bb56a48-6403-11e3-a373-0f9f2d1c2b61_print.html

The Obama administration has decided to preserve a controversial arrangement by which a single military official is permitted to direct both the National Security Agency and the military’s cyberwarfare command, U.S. officials said.

The decision by President Obama comes amid signs that the White House is not inclined to impose significant new restraints on the NSA’s activities — especially its collection of data on virtually every phone call Americans make — although it is likely to impose additional privacy protection measures.

Some officials, including the top U.S. intelligence official, had argued that the NSA and Cyber Command should be placed under separate leadership to ensure greater accountability and avoid an undue concentration of power.

“Following a thorough interagency review, the administration has decided that keeping the positions of NSA Director and Cyber Command Commander together as one, dual-hatted position is the most effective approach to accomplishing both agencies’ missions,” White House spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said in an e-mail to The Washington Post.

The announcement comes as an external panel appointed by Obama readies a report on NSA surveillance and the White House nears completion of its own internal review.

“The big picture is there’s not going to be that much [additional] constraint,” said one U.S. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. “They’re really not hurting [the NSA] that much.”

NSA officials declined to comment.

Hayden said the internal review focuses on the NSA’s activities around the world with a special emphasis on collection of intelligence about heads of state, coordination with closest allies and partners, and the issue of whether the process of setting national intelligence priorities should be modified.

She declined to discuss details, saying the review was ongoing.

Some officials familiar with the decision to keep one person in charge of both the NSA and Cyber Command expressed disappointment.

“It’s a mistake,” said one U.S. official. “Cyber Command and NSA each needs its own full-time head, and [Obama] could have continued the coordination and close working relationship between the two organizations without them being led by the same individual.”

The current NSA director, Gen. Keith B. Alexander, is due to retire in March after more than eight years at the helm. He has long advocated maintaining the “dual hat” arrangement for the NSA and Cyber Command, arguing that the cyber unit depends heavily on the NSA’s capabilities for its own operations.

“NSA plays a unique role in supporting Cyber Command’s mission, providing critical support for target access and development, including linguists, analysts, cryptanalytic capabilities, and sophisticated technological infrastructure,” Hayden said. “Without the dual-hat arrangement, elaborate procedures would have to be put in place to ensure that effective coordination continued and avoid creating duplicative capabilities in each organization.”

In interagency deliberations in recent weeks, some officials have also advocated for placing a civilian in charge of the NSA. The external review panel was also prepared to recommend such a step, according to one official.

But the cyber organization must be headed by a military official, so the NSA’s director will continue to be a military officer, as has been the tradition since it was launched in 1952.

Cyber Command was established in 2009 but reached full operational capability in 2010.


© The Washington Post Company

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