National Cybersecurity chief quits, warns of NSA takeover

[salvorhardin]

This is a few days old, but I thought I'd post it anyway for anyone who might not have saw it in the news.

Rod Beckstrom, the Director of the National Cybersecurity Center resigned less than a year after the office was created as a division of the Department of Homeland Security to coordinate government cybersecurity efforts. In his resignation letter to DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano, Beckstrom said he “did not receive appropriate support” from the DHS.

“During the past year the NCSC received only five weeks of funding, due to various roadblocks engineered within the department and by the Office of Management and Budget.”

However, Beckstrom’s resignation letter made clear that the primary reason for his resignation was in reaction to a power-grab by the secretive Department of Defense intelligence service National Security Agency. Beckstrom echoed the concerns of privacy advocates in warning of the dangers of concentrating too much power in a single agency.
More: http://pledgesecure.com/2009/03/national-cybersecurity-chief-quits-warns-of-nsa-takeover

[terisan]

1. Thanks. nt

[salvorhardin]

2. You're welcome

It was posted here a few times over the weekend but it never seemed to get any discussion going. Which is sad in a way because I think we're seeing a clash of cultures here. Even though he was appointed by Bush, Beckstrom's agency never received any funding to speak of. Beckstrom represents a new mindset in security culture that would like to see a move away from centralized, hierarchial organization. Meanwhile, the NSA is looking to reassert a more authoritarian mode of dealing with cybercrime. Beckstrom sees that as counterproductive and possibly dangerous for all the power to be centralized in the hands of one, very secretive, agency.