US DHS Secretary Jeh C. Johnson has announced that the DHS has made some organizational changes because of the increasing importance of its cybersecurity mission.
In a statement published on August 10th, Secretary Johnson says:
“As the US government’s 24/7 hub for cybersecurity information sharing, incident response, and coordination, the Department’s National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center – or NCCIC – is critical in our efforts to ensure our nation’s cybersecurity.
"Given the central importance of the NCCIC to the DHS cybersecurity mission, I have determined that we must elevate the NCCIC within our Department’s structure, with an incident reporting line directly to me as Secretary. Equally as important, I have also directed the National Protection and Programs Directorate (NPPD) to develop a reorganization plan that will ensure the NCCIC is focused on strengthening our operational capabilities for mitigating and responding to cyber incidents.”
As part of this reorganization, Dr. Andy Ozment, currently the Assistant Secretary of the Office of Cybersecurity and Communications, will assume overall and direct responsibility for the NCCIC.
In addition, John Felker has been appointed to run day-to-day operations at the NCCIC.
