NSA to participate in U.S. cybersecurity

July 6, 2009 The Obama administration has given the National Security Agency powers to screen private Internet traffic going to and from government sites, and will use as a likely test site. The Obama administration remains firm in this decision, which was put forth during the Bush administration.

The agency defends military networks with a classified system named Tutelag, which decides how to handle malware intrusions (for example, whether to block them or to investigate more closely). "We absolutely intend to use the technical resources, the substantial ones, that NSA has," said, (DHS). DHS's intrusion detection program,  version 3, is in development as version 2 is being deployed. The program defends all U.S. government agencies and departments.

DHS spokeswoman Amy Kudwa said, "We are moving forward in a way that protects privacy and civil liberties."

AT&T, the chosen test site under Bush, sought assurance from the Obama administration to determine what elements of Einstein 3 to preserve. AT&T officials declined to comment.

In 2006 the filed the class action lawsuit —currently awaiting decision—against AT&T, which under the Bush administration permitted the NSA to look at domestic communications without a warrant. NSA's intelligence gathering is limited only to foreign communications.

"We came away saying they have a lot of work in front of them to get this done right," of the  (CDT) said. "We're looking forward to their next steps."

Schwartz authored a letter on Einstein to the in December 2008 on behalf of the Information Security and Privacy Advisory Board.

NSA director said in April 2009 that the NSA will help, but does not want to take charge. Several people—including, who resigned over the issue as head of the (NCSC);  of ; , president and CEO of CDT—and not , —have urged the Obama administration to keep the Department of Homeland Security in charge despite its low scores, because, they claim, the NSA is a spy agency.