Obama orders creation of new cybersecurity center

U.S. President Barack Obama on Wednesday ordered the establishment of a new national intelligence agency to coordinate and integrate information related to cyber threats, the White House said.

The agency, called Cyber Threat Intelligence Integration Center (CTIIC), will focus on "'connecting the dots' regarding malicious foreign cyber threats to the nation and cyber incidents affecting U.S. national interests, and on providing all-source analysis of threats to U.S. policymakers," a White House statement said.

Once established, the CTIIC will join existing agencies such as the National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center, the National Cyber Investigative Joint Task Force and U.S. Cyber Command to protect the United States from cyber threats, it said.

The CTIIC, however, "will not be an operational center," the White House noted.

"It will not collect intelligence, manage incident response efforts, direct investigations, or replace other functions currently performed by existing departments, agencies, or government cyber centers," the statement said. "Nor will the CTIIC directly engage U.S. private sector entities to provide, receive, or obtain any information about cyber threats."

No decisions have been made regarding the CTIIC's specific location, but the current plan is to locate the CTIIC in the Washington, DC metro area in an existing intelligence community facility, the White House said, adding that the new unit will be small, consisting of about 50 people drawn from relevant departments and agencies. Endite