Trump “talking about trying to split the National Security Service’s cyber command in the midst of a crisis to talk about that kind of disruption makes us vulnerable again,” House Armed Services Chairman Adam Smith (D-Wash.) Said Saturday night. an interview with CNN.
On Friday, Smith sent letters to Acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, warning them against breaking NSA and Cyber Command leadership. The two agencies have shared leadership under a so-called dual-hat scheme since the Pentagon formed Cyber Command in 2009.
Nakasone has spent about two and a half years in charge of the army’s top digital warfare unit and the largest federal government intelligence agency. He has rethought how both organizations can deploy their own hackers and analysts against foreign opponents through a doctrine of “ sustained engagement ” – keeping U.S. forces in constant contact with opponents in cyberspace, including tracking them and undertaking offensive attacks. action.
The four-star is loved by Democrats and Republicans alike, especially after defending the 2018 and 2020 elections against foreign interference. Some lawmakers even joke that they wish they could put Nakasone in charge of more parts of the federal government.
Trump, meanwhile, has run through several federal agencies since losing the presidential election last month, including the Pentagon and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. The president fired the well-respected bureau chief Chris Krebs via Twitter last month.
Breaking up Cyber Command and NSA is now banned under a previous defense policy bill. The measure says the two cannot be split unless the Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff jointly declare that such a move will enhance the effectiveness of Cyber Command, which has partnered with the NSA at Fort Meade, Md .
A Democratic Congress official said there is concern on Capitol Hill that Miller and other DoD leaders could simply state that the review is complete to ram the split without going through the required steps.
A defense official warned that even if the leadership change continued, President-elect Joe Biden and his defense team could simply reverse the decision and rejoin the attacking digital unit and intelligence gathering organization.