Paranoia Watch: Ultrasecret NSA Has Conspicuous Role in New Federal Cybersecurity Center

Congress and civil libertarians have always been twitchy about involving the ultrasecretive National Security Agency—masters of electronic spying—more deeply in domestic security matters. Revelations that George W. Bush authorized the NSA (Motto: Never Say Anything) in the wake of 9/11 to expand warrantless electronic eavesdropping on Americans caused heartburn for both intelligence officials and private industry. Dragged into the controversy were phone companies and Internet service providers who took part in the program, although Congress later passed legislation that both tweaked and largely ratified Bush administration practices.  (Congress gave retroactive immunity from civil lawsuits to private firms that collaborated.)

If anything, the Obama administration, citing the threats of computer hacking and cyberterrorism, is now moving to involve the NSA more deeply in domestic security issues. The growing role of the NSA—a Defense Department agency with thousands of military personnel—in domestic matters was on semi-public display on Friday. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano visited a nondescript office complex in Arlington, Va., for the formal opening of a new high-tech command post called the National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center (NCCIC, pronounced "en-kick"). The facility is officially described as “a 24-hour, DHS-led coordinated watch and warning center that will improve national efforts to address threats and incidents affecting the nation’s critical information technology and cyber infrastructure.” The NSA’s official seal was displayed prominently on a big-screen graphic listing the center’s participants. The NSA’s director, Army Lt. Gen. Keith Alexander, was among the dignitaries standing at Napolitano’s side as she formally cut a ribbon inaugurating the facility, which, without its spooky graphics and tight security cordon, would look like a large newsroom or trading floor equipped with rows of computer workstations.

In keeping with the NSA’s character, Alexander wasn’t exactly bubbling with good cheer when Declassified asked him what his agency’s role would be in operating the cybersecurity command post. “We support DHS [Homeland Security] like everybody else,” is all the general would say. In introductory remarks, officials noted that Alexander has also been tapped by the Pentagon to head U.S. Cyber Command, a new military organization to be based alongside the NSA at Fort Meade, Md., that is intended to consolidate and improve cybersecurity and, presumably, cyberwarfare capabilities. Other officials were vague when asked for more details on the NSA’s role in  NCCIC, whose principal mission, according to Homeland Security officials, will be to monitor and assure the security and safety of civilian-government computer networks and to provide early warning to private businesses about cyber-attack threats.  As NEWSWEEK reported earlier this year, some cybersecurity experts have long argued that because the NSA traditionally has had the most formidable computer hardware and related brainpower of any agency in the government, it is essential that it become more deeply involved in protecting both domestic government computer networks and the privately run grids that now help run virtually every aspect of American daily life, including this blog.

Amy Kudwa, a Homeland Security Department spokeswoman, said that while NSA does provide "technical expertise" to DHS in connection with its cyber-security responsibilities, details of this assistance are classified. She said that although Alexander was present for the opening of the NCCIC, it was her information that the spy agency would not have representatives seated in the command center on a daily basis. She said that private sector companies eventually will be invited to assign personnel to work in the command center.