Speaking at a cyber summit in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, Army Gen. Keith Alexander, who as National Security Agency director is also US Cyber Command boss, said his position must remain “dual-hatted” in order to ensure “unity of effort” between the two organizations. Efforts to break up the leadership of NSA and CYBERCOM would result in the “two teams not working together,” he said. In addition, this could lead to duplication of effort and feuds over resources and ownership, he said. As CYBERCOM chief, Alexander is responsible for coordinating and conducting operations and defense of Defense Department networks. In his NSA role, he oversees the protection of national security information systems, among his duties. “Leveraging what we have at NSA—all the technical talent and assets—is absolutely in the best interest of this country,” said Alexander. “We treat [NSA and CYBERCOM] as one team, not two, and that’s what our nation needs,” he said during the Oct. 8 event.
Lt. Gen. Dan Caine, nominee to be chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that the Defense Department needs to upgrade its electronic warfare capability and its EW training ranges; just as his predecessor said at his own confirmation hearing.