NSA Launches Cybersecurity Arm To Defend The U.S. From Foreign Adversaries

Kate O'Flaherty wrote in Forbes: "The National Security Agency has announced its intention to create a cybersecurity directorate this fall in a bid to defend the U.S. against foreign adversaries. It comes at a time of increasing election interference by foreign nations such as Russia as part of an ongoing strategy to destabilize the West.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the move forms part of a wider effort to more closely align the agency’s offensive and defensive operations. The NSA said via Twitter: “Start spreading the news, #NSA is operationalizing intelligence to secure the country.”

It is expected the NSA’s cybersecurity directorate, which will become operational on October 1, will be headed up by Anne Neuberger who already has a lead role at the U.S. intelligence agency.

The latest move by the NSA coincides with a broader fusion of the intelligence agency’s offensive and defensive portfolios, the Wall Street Journal said. This has been taking place for several years and expanded under U.S. Cyber Command and NSA chief General Paul Nakasone.

Nakasone announced the new cybersecurity directorate on July 23 at the International Conference on Cyber Security at Fordham University. He said: “Over the past couple years, as we did a number of different reorganizations, one of the things I think we lost was that emphasis on cybersecurity,”. Story continued here

Bloomberg wrote: "The attack against U.S. democracy began in the summer of 2015 with a simple trick: Hackers working for Russia’s civilian intelligence service sent e-mails with hidden malware to more than 1,000 people working for the American government and political groups. U.S. intelligence agencies say that was the modest start of 'Grizzly Steppe,' their name for what they say developed into a far-reaching Russian operation to interfere with the presidential election."

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