Scientific Dictatorship

The Defense Department's supersecret National Security Agency can be used "appropriately" on civilian cybersecurity matters, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Thursday.

Napolitano said the an agreement between the military and Homeland Security, announced this month, takes privacy and civil liberties into account.

"We're not going to have two NSAs, we're going to have one NSA that can appropriately be used for defense purposes but also appropriately used for civilian purposes," Napolitano told National Symposium on Homeland Security and Defense.

"That means that we have to, on the civilian side, be particularly cognizant of privacy issues, of civil liberties issues, and we have built that into the memorandum" laying out the arrangement, she said.

The agreement allows Homeland Security to tap into NSA expertise on cybersecurity issues. Napolitano said her department and the military are responsible for 95 to 99 percent of the federal jurisdiction for cybersecurity, so a partnership was logical and necessary to make the most of both departments' resources and expertise...

Labels: cyber security, Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security, National Security Agency, NSA, posse comitatus, privacy

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