Former National Security Agency Director Paul Nakasone said a reported broad reorganization of the agency is “probably necessary” as it confronts faster-moving cyberthreats, artificial intelligence and competition with China, but he cautioned that the outcome will depend on how the changes are carried out.
Speaking Tuesday at VulnCheck’s ThreatCon1 conference, Nakasone addressed a recent report that the NSA is undergoing a major restructuring centered in part on artificial intelligence and China. According to a report last month from the Washington Post, the agency is creating five new organizations focused on artificial intelligence, China, cybersecurity, combat support, and global intelligence, with each led by a newly elevated “mission director.”
Nakasone, who led the NSA and U.S. Cyber Command from 2018 to 2024, said he found it encouraging that agency leaders recognized the need to adapt.
“I think that the world has changed so dramatically, so it’s hard to imagine [the NSA] not changing,” he said.
But he said large-scale institutional changes can take time, especially in an agency with broad intelligence, cyber and military responsibilities.
“When you’re a big bureaucrat, how effective is that change? I think it depends,” Nakasone said. “It’s not necessarily the change, because I think that’s a good thing. I think it’s how you implement the change.”
Nakasone’s comments reflected a central tension in the current national security environment: Intelligence agencies are under pressure to reorganize around emerging technologies, particularly balancing the need to keep the United States as a leader in AI, while also defending against adversaries like China that will look to use the technology for their own strategic goals.