Trump may split US cyber agencies

The US government has spent years debating what the exact bureaucratic structure governing US cyber agencies should be. Some people think there should be one person who oversees both the National Security Agency and US Cyber ​​Command (the current situation), while others believe the agencies should have their own leadership and be more isolated. Now, as Donald Trump prepares for his second term, those agencies are likely to have yet another chance to shake up that bureaucracy.

The record informs that Advisers close to the Trump transition team are crafting a plan to “split” the leadership position that currently oversees both the NSA and Cyber ​​Command. The United States currently has what has been called a “dual role” arrangement, in which one official oversees both the NSA and CYBERCOM. That official is Lt. Gen. Timothy Haugh, who currently serves as commander of CYBERCOM and director of the NSA. However, during his first term, Trump sought to end this shared leadership agreementand now, when he returns, he could make sure that happens.

America’s cyber agencies are obviously different but similar organizations. There’s the NSA, the creepy signals intelligence organization that’s also America’s largest spy agency. Meanwhile, CYBERCOM is an element of the United States Department of Defense. The Department of Defense has eleven “unified combatant commands,” or COMs, which are defined as distinct military units focused on particular missions. NORTHCOM, for example, is dedicated to defending North America, while SOUTHCOM focuses on South America. We now also have a SPACECOM and, yes, a CYBERCOM. U.S. CYBERCOM is the second-newest command and was created in 2010, the same year the double-hat agreement was enacted. Both the NSA and Cyber ​​Command are headquartered at Fort Meade, Maryland.

In previous years, the NSA operated with leadership separate from the Department of Defense, although the creating the double hat arrangement In 2010 that ended. People worry that dissolving the dual role will create bureaucratic problems that don’t need to happen. Lieutenant General Timothy Haugh, current leader who oversees both NSA and CYBERCOM, previously expressed that “fracturing the current command agreement between USCYBERCOM and NSA would degrade the flexibility, adaptability, and speed of action now provided through close and interconnected processes.”

So why do it? The Record quotes Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD), who is likely to head the Senate Armed Services Committee’s cyber subcommittee next year, as saying he had “heard some rumors, just from people who had been a topic of discussion.” within Trump’s transition team. “From what I understand, it’s the guys who liked silos that are driving this,” Rounds said. “Sometimes it’s time to change those silos. “I don’t necessarily like silos.”

Apparently, Trump wouldn’t find it particularly difficult to achieve either. A certification process is necessary for the long-standing interagency relationship to be dissolved, but that certification process does not seem particularly arduous, at least not if Trump’s picks for top defense jobs want to support his decision. . In fact, an anonymous source who previously worked with CYBERCOM told The Record: “Trump could take out a piece of paper with the president’s seal on it, write ‘No more double hats,’ slide it across his desk and ask his leadership to do it.” firm. That could be it. That could be the certification.” They added: “People think that double duty is sacrosanct, but it really isn’t. “It is a precarious agreement.”