THE CRUNCH
The National Security Agency is overhauling its structure to speed up intelligence delivery to the battlefield. In place of existing directorates, the agency will be recast into five mission centres devoted to China, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, combat support and global intelligence. Army Gen. Joshua Rudd, who leads both the NSA and US Cyber Command, has started a 30-day clock to implement the changes.
The five new bodies are expected to reach full operational capability by January, though some details remain unclear. For instance, the elite hacking group Tailored Access Operations is expected to be placed under global intelligence, while the fate of other recent organisations, such as the Cybersecurity Collaboration Center, is hazy. The reorganisation will also have to adjust how the NSA works with Cyber Command, which shares resources and a campus at Fort Meade.
This is the agency's most significant reorganisation in roughly a decade. The previous effort, dubbed NSA21, was considered a failure by many officials because it created more bureaucratic confusion. Rudd has said his 'first priority is speed' and that the agency must move fast to ensure it has the right technologies and capabilities.