Eye Spy - May 2018

6 EYE SPY INTELLIGENCE MAGAZINE 115 2018

t. General Paul Nakasone,

54, is the new head of

NSA and its enlarged

sister organisation - US

Cyber Command (USCC).

THE FOUR HORSEMEN

NEW HEAD OF THE NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY

L
Nakasone departed his post as
commander of Army General
Cyber Command in late April.

His appointment coincides with

ripples still expanding over alleged

Russian contact with some US

officials and former intelligence

people. The US Intelligence

Community is still embroiled in

various distractions in connection

with the 2016 General Election,

and Nakasone has already been

briefed on a number of deeply

private liaisons and controversies

ahead of his new role. “We want

them to pay a price,” he said, in

reference to Russian interference,

noting no action has thus far been

taken against Moscow. Interest-

ingly, the man whom he replaces,

Admiral Michael Rogers, has

already acknowledged USCC has

options to react to any perceived

aggression from foreign entities.

Nakasone, a 30-year servant of

the US military, was a supporter

of the development of US Cyber

Command, and some sources say

he actually helped create the

agency. This was between 2009-

2010 when, as part of a small

team working out of an office at

NSA dubbed the ‘Four Horsemen’,

they brought together a plan to

build a national cyber defence

organisation whose weapons

were simply numbers and codes.

Thereafter he took a storyboard

outlining the work to sceptical

Pentagon chiefs and senior

officials who were briefed on the

need of such an agency. And he

won - thus enabling the launch of

US Cyber Command.

Nakasone is an experienced

military intelligence man who

moves comfortably between

tasks. He has operated in various

theatres collecting intelligence,

including Iraq and Afghanistan.

In the area of counter-terrorism,

Nakasone has been central to

Joint Task Forces Ares, a multi-

agency endeavour which together

with US Special Operations

Command and various intelligence

services, including GCHQ,

launched Operation Glowing

Symphony. This sought to

sabotage media wings of ISIS and

disrupt its online output of

propaganda videos, literature and

weapons and explosives guid-

ance.

Internally, he will also have to

address the worrying loss of

experienced staffers at NSA,

which since 2015, has seen

several hundred cyber specialists

depar t for the private sector. One

NSA employee said: “It comes

down to death by a thousand

cuts... when one person hits their

breaking point and leaves, the

dominoes start falling.”

The NSA has a task force of

around 20,000 staff, of which

between 6-7 per cent specialise in

Lt. General Paul Nakasone

science, mathematics, technol-

ogy, codebreaking and

codemaking, and is regarded as

the biggest ‘producer’ of intelli-

gence in the US Intelligence

Community’s 17-service

composite.

Former NSA Deputy Director Chris

Inglis said of Nakasone: “He is

humble and forthright. He

suppor ts his people. Most

importantly, he’s the kind of

person who will inspire you.”

Admiral Michael Rogers ne of the most experienced

and perhaps controversial

security figures has been

appointed by President Trump as

National Security Advisor. John

Bolton, a key diplomatic figure in

the 2003 invasion of Iraq and

former US Ambassador to the UN,

has replaced Herbert R.

McMaster. His depar ture follows

quickly on the heels of US

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

Bolton’s views differ to those of

US Defense Secretary James

Mattis on a number of key

intelligence subjects. For example,

only recently he called for pre-

THE HAWK RETURNS

Key Figure in Washington DC Appointed

emptive military strikes against

North Korea to help thwart its

nuclear programme. In Syria and

Libya he thought it best that

regime change is the best option

O

James Mattis greets John

Bolton in the Pentagon

Army General Cyber

Command shield