Biden’s cyber security team crowded into the top

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(Disclosure: I work with almost everyone mentioned in this article at the Aspen Institute, most of them work in the public and private Aspen Cybersecurity Group. I also co-authored 2018 book Discuss the U.S. government’s attitude towards cybersecurity with John Carlin. )

In addition to the Department of Justice team, the major network participants all have a special background as a veteran of the National Security Agency and the US Cyber ​​Command base Fort Meade. In addition to Nakasone, Inglis worked in the civilian department of the National Security Agency for nearly 30 years and was promoted to its deputy director.Prior to his appointment earlier this year, Neuberger founded and led the NSA’s Cyber ​​Security Council, and previously served as its chief risk officer, who developed a Unique public voice For an organization that is not usually known for public participation. Easterly worked in the elite hacker team of the NSA (known as Tailored Access Operations). In 2009, he helped design with Nakasone and others, and later became U.S. Cyber ​​Command.

This shared NSA DNA is a belated recognition that cybersecurity has taken the second place in the government’s broader bureaucracy. When the Biden administration is looking for respected senior leaders who have been working and thinking about these issues for years after the election, there is really only a talent pool to learn from.

The National Security Agency and Cyber ​​Command acted swiftly during the Trump administration to standardize More aggressive Offensive cyber operations. As Wired magazine reported last fall, Nakasone has conducted more offensive actions online in the past three years leading the double-hat arrangement than the US government did before he took office.In recent months, the U.S. Cyber ​​Command has started Focus its attention Not only against nation-state opponents, but also against transnational organized crime, US officials increasingly point out that the scale and complexity of these crimes have been on par with the threats of established cyber opponents such as Iran and China.

However, from Chinese technology companies to ransomware, the Biden White House is still working hard to solve network problems. Although Inglis, Neuberger, Monaco, Easterly, and Nakasone are friendly and university, they have different ideas, and now they find themselves in the government with very different equity, tools, and capabilities.

How Inglis and Neuberger cooperate and share power within the White House will be one of the biggest issues for the Biden administration to deal with the Internet, as is how Easterly and Nakasone balance the government’s civil and military methods online. The answer will not only affect current technology and security policies, but also the future of US cyber defense. If at the end of Paul Nakasone’s term of office, the NSA and Cyber ​​Command are divided into two, Neuberger, Inglis and Easterly and the current NSA cyber security director Rob Joyce will all become the takeover intelligence agency The obvious candidate.

They also need to deal with the long-standing tensions between their respective institutions and their associated funds. CISA was established in 2018 and has long been Intricate deformation The DHS component was recently called the National Protection and Planning Agency. It has been hiring boom this spring, bringing in hundreds of new cyber professionals, but its size is still only one-quarter to one-third the size of Cyber ​​Command, and less than ten percent of the National Security Agency. one. It has little real power to force cooperation across the private sector, sometimes even within the government.

These are not the only complex issues facing anyone seeking a coherent government response to the still-growing online threats. In addition to the above-mentioned “big five”, the U.S. Secret Service and Immigration and Customs Enforcement also share online law enforcement responsibilities. Many Americans were surprised to find that in the colonial pipeline incident this spring, the Transportation Security Administration was famous for its blue color. -Uniformed airport security inspectors are actually responsible for overseeing the cyber security of national pipelines, as well as other strange corners and jurisdictions.

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