U.S. Cyber Command has signaled interest in establishing an independent center focused on collecting and sharing foreign cyber intelligence, Federal News Network reported Wednesday.
“We really needed an all-source approach from the Department of Defense side. And so as each of the services have their own intelligence center, there was just a gaping hole. Space set up its own, but cyber didn’t have one. And so how this will unfold is still a work in progress, but the mission analysis portion is done,” Col. Candice Frost, commander of the Joint Intelligence Operations Center at USCYBERCOM, told FNN in an interview.
The proposed center would be a joint effort with the National Security Agency and the Defense Intelligence Agency and would be based in part on the National Air and Space Intelligence Center with a focus on international adversaries’ offensive cyber capabilities.
Frost said Congress may need to address questions over authorities, funding levels, workforce and other factors with regard to the establishment of the new cyber intelligence center.
“It’s just that we have validated that the need exists, and it’s going forward,” she said of the proposed center.