Rearranging the Cyber Deck Chairs

It is a commonplace in government to substitute reorganization for rethinking at a more fundamental level. Tuesday’s Washington Post reports another instance of the phenomenon. According to Joseph Marks, “Homeland Security Chairman Ron Johnson (Wis.) and Mike Rounds (S.D.), chair of the Armed Services Committee’s cyber panel, are mulling how they might create a centralized government authority for cybersecurity issues. The goal would be an office that could make sure the Homeland Security, Defense and Justice departments are effectively sharing information and working toward common goals, the senators said.”

That strikes me as an uncommonly bad idea. We don’t need another agency and bureaucracy for greater coordination. That’s the job of the National Security Council. Of course, they used to do the job, but the responsible position has been eliminated. In other words, because the national security adviser, John Bolton, doesn’t think coordination at the White House level is necessary, we are going to create an entire agency to do the exact same thing.