The National Security Agency is preparing for an internal reorganization that will combine its offensive and defensive missions under a single directorate. According to The Washington Post, the decision to reorganize was made due to a desire on the part of NSA Director Michael S. Rogers to make the organization more agile and adaptable. Additionally, the change will allow for a greater exchange of skills and expertise between personnel who rely on the same techniques, but whose missions were previously kept separate. There are some concerns that combining offense and defense will make it harder for the NSA to partner with industry on the defensive side, as the tech industry has proven highly suspicious of the organization’s offensive endeavors in the past. Combining the two missions could also cause some problems with funding, as offensive intelligence gathering and defensive cybersecurity actions have different funding rules. However, previous attempts at this type of integration, most notably the NSA Threat Operations Center, have proven effective in the past, so many officials are optimistic about the current reorganization’s chances of success.
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