The plan, unveiled this morning, will be put into action in the coming months. The directorate is set to start operations at the beginning of October under the leadership of NSA official Anne Neuberger. Neuberger previously served as the agency’s chief risk officer, a position created to prevent leaks after the Edward Snowden exposés, and earlier held other senior roles, including deputy director of operations.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the new group will replace the NSA’s information assurance directorate. That unit had a narrow mandate to sensitive national security systems from hackers. When it starts working in October, the cybersecurity directorate will have the dual responsibility of protecting U.S. information technology assets and collecting intelligence about foreign cyberthreats.
