China not ahead of U.S. in cyber and surveillance, NSA head says

National Security Agency head Gen. Paul Nakasone arrives on Capitol Hill to deliver testimony in June, 2023

National Security Agency head Gen. Paul Nakasone arrives on Capitol Hill to deliver testimony in June, 2023 Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

NSA Director Paul Nakasone said working with the private sector is “tremendously important” when it comes to maintaining the nation’s edge over adversaries like Russia and China.

Gen. Paul Nakasone, head of the National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command, said emphatically that China is not ahead of the United States when it comes to offensive cybersecurity and surveillance capabilities at a think tank appearance on Thursday.

"There is a scope, scale and sophistication that we ascribe to what China is doing today," Nakasone said at the event at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "Are they getting better? Yes." 

Nakasone, who has served in the ‘dual hat’ role of NSA director and commander of USCYBERCOM since 2018, expressed confidence in the integrity and assurance of classified networks operated by the U.S. government — an area under his purview by law. Nakasone said his confidence comes from the results of ongoing "hunt forward" operations that look for clandestine activity on U.S. and allied networks. 

"We don't necessarily believe it, because we think it. We believe it because we test it, we exercise it, it's the whole idea of being persistently engaged on our adversaries," Nakasone said.

He also noted that he continues to be concerned by the prospect of China's cyber operatives "positioning themselves in different critical infrastructure elements of the United States, our allies, our territories, to perhaps utilize in the future. Why are they doing that? Why are they in our critical infrastructure? So that's the thing that we are addressing today."

One key to the U.S. competitive advantage in cyberspace is the relationship between the government and the private sector.

Nakasone said discussions with Mandiant Founder and CEO Kevin Mandia following the cybersecurity firm’s discovery of the SolarWinds hack in 2020 helped spur on the idea of creating an “unclassified facility outside of our agency where the private sector and our agency can talk'' about issues vital to national security. 

This led to the establishment of NSA’s Cybersecurity Collaboration Center, which Nakasone said is currently engaging with more than 400 different private sector companies across the defense industrial base to better address a host of national security concerns. 

“They talk to us because we have this incredible element of intelligence that comes from our work outside the United States,” he said, adding that “being able to bring the power of what our agency and command does” to issues such as ransomware, supply chain risks and zero-day vulnerabilities through these discussions is key to mitigating potential threats.

“This is what we’ve learned from Russia-Ukraine,” he added. “Being able to leverage the private sector, being able to work with the private sector, being able to understand what the private sector is doing is tremendously important.”

Nakasone also noted that the agency is currently working on an AI roadmap to guide its use of emerging technologies, which includes examining how NSA engages with key private sector companies to let them know “what we need” and ensure that “they understand that being able to protect their intellectual property is critically important in that environment that we live today.

“The generative models that have come — the large language model — provides this great opportunity, not only on the signals intelligence side, but also the cybersecurity side,” he added. 

Beyond forging partnerships with key private sector companies, NSA is also looking to staff its workforce with more employees who have tech sector experience. Agency officials told Nextgov/FCW in February that the agency is working to bolster its workforce by directly recruiting professionals who were let go by large tech firms amid a wave of layoffs across the industry.

Nakasone said the agency is looking to hire “the next generation of those that will contribute to our national security,” with NSA hoping to bring on over 3,000 new personnel this year and dramatically expand its civilian workforce over the next five years.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.