The National Security Agency is launching a new Cybersecurity Directorate to unify NSA’s foreign intelligence and cyber defense missions. The Directorate is charged with preventing and eradicating threats to National Security Systems and the Defense Industrial Base.
Anne Neuberger, who in 2014 became the NSA’s first chief risk officer, will lead the Cybersecurity Directorate and report directly to NSA Director Gen. Paul Nakasone.
Neuberger was also previously NSA Deputy Director of Operations and lead of NSA’s Russia Small Group.
The Cybersecurity Directorate will be in its initial operating capability as of Oct. 1.
It will reinvigorate the NSA’s white hat mission, opening the door to partners and customers on a wide variety of cybersecurity efforts. It will also build on past successes such as the Russia Small Group to operationalize threat intelligence, vulnerability assessments, and cyber defense expertise to defeat adversaries in cyberspace.
This new approach to cybersecurity will better position NSA to collaborate with key partners across the U.S. government like U.S. Cyber Command, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It will also enable the NSA to better share information with customers so they are equipped to defend against malicious cyber activity.