Reports that the Obama administration is considering cleaving off US Cyber Command from the National Security Agency (NSA) have roiled the Chairman of the Senate Armed Service Committee.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) threatened the White House on Tuesday, saying he would do all he can to block a nominee to head any new agency created by ending the “dual-hat” role of the NSA chief.
US Cyber Command, formed in 2009, resides within the NSA, sharing the same networks and resources as the intelligence gathering agency.
The Washington Post reported Tuesday that the Obama administration is “apparently eager” to build up a separate cyber command operations outside the spy agency before he leaves office.
Under the proposal the military would head up the newly-created cyber agency. Control of the NSA, meanwhile, would be relinquished to civilian authorities.
“The potential move is driven by a sense that the two missions are fundamentally different, that the nation’s cyberspies and military hackers should not be competing to use the same networks and that the job of leading both organizations is too big for one person,” the Post noted.
The paper added that the split is being pushed by Defense Secretary Ashton Carter and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper.
During a hearing Tuesday before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Chairman McCain hit out at the deliberations.
“Let me be very clear,” he said, “I do not believe that rushing to separate the dual hat in the final months of an administration is appropriate give the very serious challenges we face in cyber space.”
McCain went on to promise obstruction.
“If a decision is prematurely made to separate NSA and cyber command I will object to the confirmation of any individual nominated by the President to replace the Director of the National Security Agency if that person is not also nominated to be the commander of Cyber Command,” he said.
“This Committee and this chairman are tired of the way that congress in general, and the Committee, are treated by this administration,” McCain concluded.
Testifying at the hearing was the current head of the NSA, Adm. Michael Rogers. Under questioning, he appeared to agree with McCain that the NSA should be preserved in its current state.
“Is it still your professional military advice that maintaining the dual-hate at this time is in our best national security interest?” McCain asked.
“Yes,” Rogers answered.
The Pentagon is pushing for annexation of Cyber Command in hopes of creating, according to the Washington Post, a “full-fledged fighting force that has its own network accesses to conduct attacks,” and its own resources.
The paper noted that President Obama initially had planned for the split back in 2013, but was dissuaded by former NSA Director Keith Alexander, who claimed that Cyber Command still relied too heavily on NSA resources.
