Former CYBERCOM boss Nakasone to lead Vanderbilt defense institute

The former head of U.S. Cyber Command and the National Security Agency is headed back to school, so to speak.

Vanderbilt University on May 8 named retired Army Gen. Paul Nakasone as the director of its nascent Institute for National Defense and Global Security, describing him as one of the “nation’s founding cyberwarriors.”

Nakasone is expected to join the university June 1, shortly before the institute officially opens its doors. It will be associated with the engineering school but will welcome input from all disciplines, according to an announcement.

The move by Nakasone follows a six-year stint overseeing elite military hackers and global intelligence collection . The retired general was last year a keynote speaker at the Vanderbilt Summit on Modern Conflict and Emerging Threats.

“The security landscape is evolving at an unprecedented pace and in unknown directions,” Nakasone said in a statement. “To meet these challenges, it is imperative that we approach them in a highly interdisciplinary way.”

Before stepping down from CYBERCOM and the NSA, Nakasone warned that Chinese cyberattacks on critical infrastructure in Guam or other Indo-Pacific footholds could cripple U.S. military capabilities in the region. He also advocated for a renewal of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, a contentious foreign spy program.

The measure allows the U.S. government to collect and review communications like emails and text messages of foreigners abroad, including when they are in touch with Americans. Nakasone in December described it as “the most important authority that we utilize day in, day out.”

Colin Demarest was a reporter at C4ISRNET, where he covered military networks, cyber and IT. Colin had previously covered the Department of Energy and its National Nuclear Security Administration — namely Cold War cleanup and nuclear weapons development — for a daily newspaper in South Carolina. Colin is also an award-winning photographer.

美国网络司令部和国家安全局前局长，可以说是重返校园了。

5月8日，范德比尔特大学任命退役陆军上将保罗·中曾根为新成立的国家国防与全球安全研究所所长，称他为“美国网络战的奠基人之一”。

据公告称，中曾根教授预计将于6月1日加入该大学，届时该研究所也将正式成立。研究所将隶属于工程学院，但也欢迎所有学科的学者参与。

中曾根此次调任之前，曾担任精英军事黑客和全球情报收集部门的负责人长达六年。这位退役将军去年曾在范德比尔特现代冲突与新兴威胁峰会上发表主题演讲。

“安全形势正以前所未有的速度朝着未知方向发展，”中曾根在一份声明中表示。“为了应对这些挑战，我们必须以高度跨学科的方式来处理。”

在卸任网络司令部和国家安全局局长之前，中曾根警告说，中国对关岛或其他印太地区据点的关键基础设施发动的网络攻击可能会削弱美国在该地区军事能力。他还主张延长《外国情报监视法》第702条，这是一项备受争议的外国间谍计划。

这项措施允许美国政府收集和审查外国人在海外的通信记录，例如电子邮件和短信，包括他们与美国人联系时的通信记录。中曾根在去年12月将其描述为“我们每天都在使用的最重要的权力”。

科林·德马雷斯特曾是C4ISRNET的记者，负责报道军事网络、网络安全和信息技术方面的新闻。此前，他曾为南卡罗来纳州的一家日报报道美国能源部及其下属的国家核安全管理局，主要关注冷战后的清理工作和核武器研发。科林还是一位屡获殊荣的摄影师。