WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration announced the creation of a new executive agency on Tuesday that will cooperate with the private sector along with other agencies and countries to try and disrupt cyber criminals and prevent data breaches, reported The Daily Caller.
"Those who do harm should know that they can be found, and held to account," Lisa Monaco, chief counterterrorism advisor to the president, said in a speech at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington.
The new Cyber Threat Intelligence Integration Center (CTIIC) will employ what Monaco said are lessons we have learned in combating other forms of terrorism that need to be applied to the realm of cyber threats--namely coordinating all of the government's tools to respond at the highest level.
"Currently no single government entity is responsible for producing coordinated cyber-threat assessments ensuring that information is shared rapidly among existing cyber centers and other elements within our government," she said. "We need to build up the muscle memory for our cyber-response capabilities, as we have on the terrorism side."
Monaco said the new entity will not collect new intelligence, but analyze data already collected by other relevant agencies, such as the Department for Homeland Security (DHS), to enable it to do its job more effectively.
The system is designed to work in lockstep with the private sector, said the report, and encourages companies that are victims to do the patriotic thing and report the details to DHS, where it can then be passed on to CTIIC--which will use all of the government's tools and unique capacity to integrate information about threats, and make the best possible assessment.
She claimed that the government will not bottle up intelligence, but will do its utmost to share it.
Officials said the new agency will begin with a staff of about 50 people and a budget of $35 million.
CTIIC's creation represents a welcome streamlining to some supporters, but it also shows how many different federal agencies play a role in monitoring cybersecurity, said a separate report by The Wall Street Journal.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Pentagon all collect intelligence on cyberthreats. A number of other agencies--including the Federal Reserve, Energy Department, and Federal Trade Commission (FTC)--monitor risks for breaches. Even with the creation of the CTIIC, there isn't a single agency in charge of coordinating the government's policy for cybersecurity.
Click here to view the full Daily Caller report. And click here to view the full Wall Street Journal report.
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