General Alexander's dual appointments reveal just how limited Obama's security options are.

[Peikko 1,575]

In a bizarre move that confirms how hard it is for President Obama to fill the top intelligence spots, the current head of the National Security Agency, General Keith Alexander, has been appointed both to continue to run NSA and to head the new Cyber Command.

The Cyber Command has been one of the most controversial initiatives of the Obama team and is being set up to better defend the nation from countries like China, which have been doing the cyber equivalent of raping and pillaging American economic and defense secrets with impunity. The appointment of Alexander to run the Command, which was predicted on this blog several months ago, means that he will get his fourth star and make him one of the most powerful men in US intelligence.

Surprisingly, he will also be staying on at NSA where his term as Director runs out this month. The Cyber Command will be located at Fort Meade, which is also NSA’s headquarters, so the appointment will be personally very convenient for him. What is more problematic is that Alexander will be in charge of all eavesdropping around the world and with protecting the nation in cyberspace.

Alexander’s promotion is surprising because when the Obama transition team examined his achievements at NSA under Bush, they gave his major technology initiatives very low marks. In a different world that judgment would be a career killer but in the intelligence world little is as it might seem to be.

Civil Libertarians are concerned that the Cyber Command will only be able to do its job by monitoring every communication that comes in and out of the US to detect patterns that look like foreign attacks or spying. Already, NSA stands accused of wholesale spying on Americans as part of the counter terrorist effort and so the Democratic Administration finds itself closely allied with what might be considered Republican party policies.

Putting Alexander in charge of both defense and offense with nobody in charge to protect the average American is certain to cause concern in Congress. This is especially true given that the White House has been unable to find anyone to run the cyber office in the White House, which should be providing political oversight to the Pentagon’s activities.

Melissa Hathaway, who developed the new cyber strategy for Obama, was thought to be a front runner for the job. However, she has been told that she is out of the running having upset too many senior Obama officials. Others who have been approached have all turned the job down in part because it’s a poisoned chalice with uncertain powers and multiple masters.

In part, of course, this is all Washington musical chairs as usual with the inadequate and incompetent rising ever higher because the bureaucracy can’t think or execute a creative thought. But for Obama these decisions will come back to haunt him. The intelligence community remains convinced that another major terrorist attack is certain and when that happens the American public will want to know why America’s security has been saddled with leaders who wouldn’t last five minutes in the private sector.

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[Ban Hammer 13,342]

being dual hatted isn't unusual.