|
 The White House had considered splitting up the two agencies,
possibly giving the NSA a civilian leader for the first time in its
61-year history to dampen controversy over its programs revealed by
former contractor Edward Snowden.
Both the NSA and Cyber Command, which conducts cyber warfare, are
now headed by the same man, Army General Keith Alexander, who is
retiring in March. Given that the chief of Cyber Command must be a
military officer, the White House decision means that Alexander's
successor will be from the military as well.
"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," said
Caitlin Hayden, spokeswoman for the White House's National Security
Council.
"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."
The White House announced that Obama had received an outside panel's
recommendations on what constraints might be in order for the NSA
and that the 40 recommendations would be reviewed.
"We expect our overall internal review to be completed in January
and the president thereafter to deliver remarks to outline the
outcomes of our work," Hayden said.
The review was driven by public disclosures about NSA spying,
including reports that German Chancellor Angela Merkel's phone had
been monitored.
Based in Fort Meade, Maryland, Cyber Command tries to detect and
stop computer penetration of military and other critical networks by
U.S. adversaries like China, Iran and North Korea.
However, there is an increasing focus on offense as military
commanders beef up plans to execute cyber strikes. A steady drip
of revelations from Snowden about the vast scope of NSA spying has
raised widespread concern about the reach of such U.S. operations,
with its ability to pry into the affairs of private individuals as
well as the communications of foreign leaders.
[to top of second column] |
REVIEW OF SPYING
Obama said last week he intended to propose NSA reforms to reassure
Americans that the agency was not violating their privacy.
"I'll be proposing some self-restraint on the NSA and to initiate
some reforms that can give people more confidence," Obama said in a
television interview on December 5.
The Wall Street Journal reported late on Thursday that the outside
panel's draft proposals call for changing the NSA leadership from
military to civilian as well as storing the vast amount of data on
phone calls collected by the agency at a third-party organization.
The proposals also recommend stricter standards for searching the
data amassed by the NSA, the Journal said.
The recommendations from panel, called the Review Group on
Intelligence and Communications Technologies, are among several
measures suggested this year by Obama, who has said he ordered a
review of the surveillance programs before Snowden leaked secret
documents to media.
Hayden declined comment "on a report that is not yet final and
hasn't yet been submitted to the White House." He said the
administration was still working out the details of how and when it
will be made public.
(Additional reporting by Alina Selyukh and Steve Holland;
editing by
Alistair Bell and Christopher Wilson)
[© 2013 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2013 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
