The National Security Agency has made dozens of changes in its operations and computer networks to prevent another whistleblower.
According to Reuters, the NSA is making 41 specific technical measures to control data by tagging and tracking it, to supervise agency networks with controls on activity, and to increase oversight of individuals.
This will include two-person control of every place where someone could access data, and enhancement of the security process that people go through. There will also be more frequent screenings of systems administrative access, according to Richard Ledgett, who leads a task force responding to the leaks and is reportedly in line to be the agency’s deputy director.
The panel reportedly said the data should be held by an organisation other than the NSA and stricter rules should be enforced for searching the databanks.
He spoke to Reuters on the same day that the White House said it had decided to maintain the practice of having a single individual head both the NSA and US Cyber Command. TheWashington Post reported that a single military official is permitted to direct both the National Security Agency and the military’s cyber warfare command, despite an external review panel’s recommendation against doing so.
“Following a thorough interagency review, the administration has decided that keeping the positions of NSA Director and Cyber Command commander together as one, dual-hatted position is the most effective approach to accomplishing both agencies’ missions,” White House spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said in an email to The Washington Post.
