“Major Reorganization at NSA, U.S. Cybersecurity Agency; New Units for AI and China”

[Financial News] The National Security Agency (NSA), which oversees U.S. cybersecurity and operates under the Department of Defense (War Department), is carrying out a major organizational overhaul, The Washington Post (WP) reported on the 13th local time.
According to the report, which cited current and former officials, the reorganization plan devised by NSA Director Joshua Rudd, a U.S. Army general, centers on creating five new organizations focused on artificial intelligence (AI), China, cybersecurity, combat support or warfighting, and global intelligence.
The new organizations will be led by newly elevated “mission directors.” A former NSA official said they will have substantial authority equivalent to that of an NSA deputy director.
Rudd is also said to have stated that he may select the heads of the five new organizations from outside the agency.
The elite hacking unit recently reorganized by Rudd, Special Access Operations, or Tailored Access Operations (TAO), will be placed under the Global Intelligence organization, officials said. TAO is expected to receive a substantially larger budget when the new fiscal year begins on October 1.
Established in 1997, TAO is one of the NSA’s most secretive organizations. It has focused on compromising—and at times attacking—the world’s most difficult-to-access digital targets. WP explained, “The organization’s name was abolished in 2016, and its members were dispersed among other NSA organizations.”


Headquartered at Fort Meade in Maryland, the NSA is an intelligence agency focused on cybersecurity. More than 30,000 military and civilian personnel are reportedly employed there, a figure larger than that of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
The NSA specializes in digital intelligence and is the leading global intelligence collection and interception agency in the U.S. intelligence community, WP explained.
It focuses on the large-scale collection of signals intelligence, including communications and other electronic information. It also manages encryption systems and maintains security to prevent foreign powers from penetrating sensitive, encrypted U.S. government communications and networks.
WP reported that the reorganization was “the largest internal restructuring in at least the past decade,” adding, “Rudd believes the new organizational structure will better reflect the NSA’s current and future priorities.”
The NSA reorganization is proceeding on a tight schedule. According to a former official, the new mission directors must submit their organizational restructuring plans to Rudd by the end of this month. Current and former officials said the reorganization is scheduled to be announced in mid-October and become fully operational in mid-January next year.
Rudd, who took office after being confirmed by the U.S. Senate in March, has reportedly focused on improving the agency’s AI-related operations.
The NSA launched a new desktop AI tool called “Ask Mary,” named after the head of the department leading its AI integration efforts. Rudd has also shown strong interest in collaborating with private AI research labs and used Anthropic’s advanced AI model Claude Mythos, circumventing the Department of Defense’s ban on using Anthropic.
Rudd also made frequent visits to the White House, primarily to discuss AI-related matters, a former official said.  


[email protected] Lee Seok-woo, International Affairs Specialist Reporter