NSA Should Oversee Cybersecurity, Intel Chief Says

NSA to be in charge of cyber-security including for private telecommunications networks. DNI Dennis Blair unveils Obama administration's power grab of civilian computer security. Paul Kurtz, on Bush National Security Council, was on Obama Transition Team and backs move by NSA.

Despite the fact that many Americans distrust the National Security Agency for its role in the Bush Administration's warrantless wiretapping program, the agency should be entrusted with securing the nation's telecommunications networks and other cyber infrastructures, President Obama's director of national intelligence told Congress on Wednesday.

Director of National Intelligence Admiral Dennis Blair told the House intelligence committee (.pdf) that the NSA, rather than the Department of Homeland Security which currently oversees cybersecurity, has the smarts and the skills to secure cyberspace.

"The National Security Agency has the greatest repository of cyber talent," Blair said. "[T]here are some wizards out there at Fort Meade who can do stuff."

Blair added that "because of the offensive mission that they have, they’re the ones who know best about what’s coming back at us and it’s defenses against those sorts of things that we need to be able to build into wider and wider circles."

He acknowledged that the agency had a trust handicap to overcome due to its role in the Bush Administration's secret domestic spying program, and therefore asked Congress to help convince the public that it's the right agency for the task. More