WH officials propose ending the “dual-hat” leadership arrangement of NSA and Cyber Command, renewing debate over splitting up the agencies amid recent attacks
though “when” is a tricky question. But the idea that this is going to happen in the final 32 days of an administration, under an acting SefDef, without congressional support (and while POTUS is holding the NDAA hostage) is a fantasy. https://twitter.com/... Richard Bejtlich / @taosecurity : How about that! I mentioned this idea earlier today. I concur with the anonymous official who expects it to go through, but with a delayed implementation date, say 1 Oct 2021, for the next fiscal year. I hope my recommendation for a civilian DirNSA develops too. HT @DAlperovitch https://twitter.com/... Chris Bing / @bing_chris : First reported by @KatieBoWill: https://www.defenseone.com/... I didn't have this detail: “a trio of new officials, including Miller, his chief of staff Kash Patel, and Acting Under Secretary of Defense for IntelligenceEzra Cohen-Watnick, have sought significant policy changes.” Katie Bo Williams / @katiebowill : NEWS: Trump administration officials at the Pentagon late this week delivered to the Joint Chiefs of Staff a proposal to split up the leadership of the NSA and U.S. Cyber Command—another bid to dramatically reshape defense policy in their final days. https://www.defenseone.com/... Jim Sciutto / @jimsciutto : Now the president is not just silent on Russia and the hack. He is deliberately running defense for the Kremlin by contradicting his own Secretary of State on Russian responsibility. https://twitter.com/...
Defense OneKatie Bo Williams
Context & Ripple Effects
The dual-hat question is a recurring transition-season fixture: Barack Obama urged ending the shared leadership of NSA and Cyber Command in his own final days in office (December 2016), and by 2018 the approaching split was already surfacing [[a:928606|tensions between the military and intelligence sides over who should command offensive cyber operations]]. What is new is the messenger: White House officials Miller, Kash Patel, and Ezra Cohen-Watnick delivered a split proposal to the Joint Chiefs in the closing weeks of an administration, under an acting defense secretary.
The timing is the story's weak point. The push lands while the president is holding the NDAA hostage and without announced congressional support, which is why even sympathetic outside voices treat immediate implementation as unrealistic while debating only the delay.
First-order effects
The Joint Chiefs must now evaluate a formal proposal to separate NSA and Cyber Command leadership, handed to them by lame-duck political appointees rather than through the usual Pentagon policy process.
Second-order effects
Any movement toward separation reignites the unresolved 2018 fight over whether a military or intelligence officer should hold each hat — the question that stalled momentum after Obama first proposed the split.
Third-order effects
The pattern points to proposals outpacing execution: by late 2025 the two agencies still share a leader after the administration found that breaking up the arrangement would be very complex, suggesting structural difficulty, not intent, is what preserves the dual-hat.
The trend: Each presidential transition revives the push to split NSA and Cyber Command, but organizational complexity has so far kept the two agencies under one leader.
If this is about gunning for Nakasone, abruptly changing DIRNSA is probably the single stupidest thing anyone could do at this moment. It would be just incomprehensibly dumb, like shoving a stick in your own eye. https://twitter.com/...
This is ridiculous. A hack like this is not a series of phone calls from Yasenevo to, say, Texas that NSA can intercept. And if human penetration agents in the US tech sector were involved, NSA beacons on *foreign* networks would be useless. https://twitter.com/...
Anyone who believes Nakasone is somehow responsible for this are ridiculously uninformed about: * His authorities * His responsibilities * How cyber works * Other stuff that won't fit into a tweet There's plenty of blame to go around. Nakasone should be getting none of it. https:…
Splitting the NSA/Cybercom is a good idea, but I don't trust the people currently running the pentagon not to piss on their own feet sitting down. https://twitter.com/...
Ideas to separate CYBERCOM & NSA have been kicking around a good long while. It's an important policy debate. It's also lunacy to move forward on it during the presidential transition, while in the midst of responding to a major foreign adversary cyber intrusion. https://twitter.…
The guy who talked about “the cyber” and his hack underlings again decide something they know nothing about. There are arguments pro and con, but flunkies who can't even spell should not be making this decision, especially in light of this week's news. https://www.defenseone.com/…
This is a huge story surprised more aren't talking about this. I think it's a big deal the NSA could be a civilian led institution in the future. If it happens I'll thank @EzraACohen 🦅🇺🇸 https://www.wsj.com/...
Some current and former officials believe the plan is being pushed now in an attempt to scapegoat Gen. Nakasone for the IC's apparent miss detecting the SolarWinds hack, which allowed hackers to quietly burrow into government systems for months on end. https://www.wsj.com/... htt…
MORE: The plan is circulating among senior officials as the admin grapples with the fallout of the massive SolarWinds hack. It is said to be supported by Acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller and is a dusted-off version of plan that floated under Mattis. https://www.wsj.com/...
NEW: Senior officials at the Pentagon including Ezra Cohen-Watnick are pushing a proposal to split leadership of NSA and Cyber Command and place NSA under civilian control before the end of the Trump administration. w/ @glubold https://www.wsj.com/...
The split is a matter of when, not if—though “when” is a tricky question. But the idea that this is going to happen in the final 32 days of an administration, under an acting SefDef, without congressional support (and while POTUS is holding the NDAA hostage) is a fantasy. https:/…
How about that! I mentioned this idea earlier today. I concur with the anonymous official who expects it to go through, but with a delayed implementation date, say 1 Oct 2021, for the next fiscal year. I hope my recommendation for a civilian DirNSA develops too. HT @DAlperovitch …
First reported by @KatieBoWill: https://www.defenseone.com/... I didn't have this detail: “a trio of new officials, including Miller, his chief of staff Kash Patel, and Acting Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence Ezra Cohen-Watnick, have sought significant policy changes.”
NEWS: Trump administration officials at the Pentagon late this week delivered to the Joint Chiefs of Staff a proposal to split up the leadership of the NSA and U.S. Cyber Command—another bid to dramatically reshape defense policy in their final days. https://www.defenseone.com/..…