Pentagon mulls plan for NSA to monitor Defense contractors' network traffic

The Defense and Homeland Security departments are considering a plan that would allow the National Security Agency to monitor certain Defense contractors' networks for malicious activity, according a report posted by The Atlantic Web site.

The NSA would set up equipment at the contractors' Internet Service Providers to detect anomalies, and it would immediately any suspicious activity to the Pentagon and the contractors. NSA would not have access to content, only met-data, according to an article posted on a blog written by Marc Ambinder. Only those contractors that store and use sensitive information would be monitored.

"It may not be legal to force companies to submit to NSA monitoring, or even to ask them to voluntarily agree to it, and it might not be politically feasible for companies to accept NSA sensors without disclosing their existence for liability and optical reasons," Ambinder wrote. "At least two companies, AT&T and Verizon, have been approached about the idea, government officials said. Representatives for both companies checked with the Pentagon after receiving inquiries and declined to comment."

The article was written based on interviews with officials and consultants who had been briefed on the matter.

DHS is involved in the discussions because it has cybersecurity responsibility for the dot-com domain.