Transcripts For CSPAN NSA 20240703

General Paul Nakasone asset cybersecurity is National Security. While the internet has given us Global Connectivity and rapid innovation, it also leads the u. S. Vulnerable. Malicious and often state sponsored cyber actors seek to exploit our new connectedness and achieve targets on our Critical Infrastructure and military. Since general Paul Nakasone assumed command at u. S. Cyber command in 2016 the National Security agency in 2018, he has seen the Threat Landscape expanded to become more complex. Over recent years, it has become clear our electrical grid, our oil and gas pipelines, and even our water supply can be vulnerable. Perhaps even the 2020 for elections. We are eager to hear more from general Paul Nakasone about how the nsa and u. S. Cyber command are evolving to meet these threats. Please, join me in giving a warm, National Press club welcome to general Paul Nakasone. Gen. Nakasone good afternoon. Thank you for the warm welcome to the National Press club. This invitation is very special to me. Special to me and my guests as well. There can be no effective public dialogue and debate without free press. To inform the people, challenge decisionmakers, and foster accountability. I believe in this strongly. Let me speak briefly about things i feel are important for our nation and then reserve time for questions. Since 2018, i have had the privilege of serving as both the commander of u. S. Cyber command and the director of the National Security agency. It is both an honor and a humbling experience. Over the course of my career, i have served all over the world. Across the u. S. , in korea, iraq, and afghanistan. In both peace and war. My journey has taken me from small units at the tactical level where you live and learn with soldiers from all backgrounds and all perspectives to the pentagon on 9 11. And now, to senior levels of our government where i advise leaders on a rapidly changing and challenging world. I am privileged to serve alongside the men and women from all walks of life civilian and military that all share a common bond, a sworn oath to our constitution and the protection of our nation. I rely on this commitment of service day in and day out as a Cyber Command and nsa, where i am leading both organizations i have that unique perspective of seeing their contributions to our National Defense. In my role as commander of Cyber Command i am responsible for the u. S. Military operations in cyberspace that we do at the direction of the secretary of defense and the president of the United States. Our focus is on securing the partner Defense Information Networks and working with partners at home and around the world in support of new u. S. National security interests. In my role as director of the National Security agency the agency supports every component of the Intelligence Community and focuses on signals intelligence and cybersecurity. Nsa is responsible for the security of our National Security systems, including classified networks and war fighting systems. We have signals intelligence authorities to produce foreign intelligence. We operate under authorities that are limited by law and overseen closely by all three branches of government. Nsa is the unquestioned world leader in making and breaking codes with some of the most Brilliant Minds in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and Foreign Languages working every day to protect us from foreign adversaries. It is a mission that the men and women of the usa and Cyber Command are proud of and take extremely seriously. What are they working so hard to protect us from . Today we find ourselves in an era of strategic competition were global powers are competing economically, militarily, and it diplomatically simultaneously in a world where the speed of technological growth is increasing exponentially. And at the time for our National Leaders to make critical decisions is also decreasing. China emerged as the pacing challenge. Between two nations, china views its relations with the west from a perspective of how to correct the historical aberration of western supremacy in Global Affairs while returning china with its 400 years of history at 1. 3 billion people to its role as a regional hegemon and potential global leader. What makes china unique is the scope, scale, and sophistication of the threat it poses. The need is for the u. S. To respond to this threat today and well into the foreseeable future. This is the generational challenge of our time. Russia is a threat to Regional Security and global stability with its unilateral disregard of International Norms and willingness to target civilians and Critical Infrastructure with both tactical and advanced weapons systems. Its illegal invasion of ukraine is a textbook example. It is also has also deployed Information Operations with the intent of weakening democratic institutions, election interference being among those efforts. Finally, technology is advancing at a phenomenal speed posing a challenge to the u. S. As it races to stay ahead of technologies with the potential to be used against us. Cyber and generative ai are prime examples. Ai has enormous capacity to upend multiple sectors of society simultaneously, militaries, economies, international relations, technological growth. It is essential we stay ahead of global competitors in the race to understand and harness its potential as well as protect ourselves from adversarial use. We have developed tools. Technologies, and processes to help us confront these threats. But at the most basic level, our ability to successfully overcome these challenges will rely on the men and women both civilian and military who have chosen to serve the nation and have been entrusted with defending it. That trust is not taken lightly. By the National Security agency and cyber calm workforce. It cemented an oath to defend the constitution and the lives of the United States for the rest of their life. They recognize inherent dangers to our way of life when the clots are abridged. That is why upholding our oath is at the core of everything we do. At nsa we have a culture of compliance to the law that pervades every level of the workforce. This means starting from the very first day on the job, training begins on how to safely and legally perform her duties. It continues with more training every year thereafter with processes that a double and triple check the legality of your work. And with independent groups tasked solely with ensuring we do not overstep our bounds. I did a very where cases where an incident occurs it is reported quickly. It is investigated and corrected. Humans can make mistakes. But what is important is to be transparent when they do. Learn from them, then work hard to ensure that they do not happen again. Ultimately the people of u. S. Cyber command and nsa understand the gravity of the immense responsibility placed on them and have sworn an oath to the constitution to carry out their duties in a manner that you, their neighbors, friends, and family would be proud of. Those duties are important. Authorities like section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act are essential for our people to carry out their most Critical Missions. Section 702 has been described as the most transparent Surveillance Authority in the world. Let me explain what 702s. Its illegal approval for government to collect communications of individual foreign intelligence targets located outside the United States that use u. S. Electronic Communications Services like email and telephone. Let me say that again. A foreign targets outside of the United States. It is also important to understand that rigorous oversight from all three branches of government. I believe 702 collection is the most important authority we use today day in and day out to protect our nation and the American People. It contributes to 100 of the National Intelligence priority framework. 59 of the intelligence of the president s daily brief and 20 of all the intelligence nsa collects. Let me give you a realworld example of how 702 helps to protect americans. In 2022 drug overdoses claimed more than 100,000 american lives. Fentanyl is of the leading cause of the overdoses affecting every corner of the nation. More than 10 times it then number of u. S. Servicemembers lives lost in iraq and afghanistan. Its the worst drug crisis in our history. 702 provided intelligence on foreign actors efforts to smuggle fentanyl into the u. S. And abroad and our understanding of the chinese origins of a chemical used to synthesize fentanyl. This information enables at the u. S. Government to take Decisive Action saving lives because of 702. Actionable intelligence like this is one of the reasons why the president s intelligence Advisory Board called 702 the cornerstone of the Intelligence Communitys ability to uncover and track threats to america and noted 702 does not threaten the Civil Liberties of americans so long as the right culture, processes, and oversight are in place. I can attest to the truth of that statement because every possible measure is employed to ensure 702s proper use including daily oversight, daily review of data, automatic tools to prevent misuse command rigorous training of how to use and protect data at all trying at all times. As a result 99 plus of the targets collected over under 702 authority at usa occurred without incident since it was last reauthorized. At the end of the day, our use of the authority is about the protection of both National Security and american Civil Liberties. We are committed to do both. It is critically important to the nation that 702 b reauthorized. It has saved lives, protected u. S. Interest, defended our fighters overseas, and contributed to artist our security and the security of lives and partners around the world. Amidst an everchanging Global Landscape nsa continues to focus on signals intelligence and cybersecurity. While cyber Cyber Commands focus is on cyber operations. What we do has not changed. But, how we do it has. Today we have to account for attacks on regal infrastructure, the proliferation of drone or fair, countering misinformation campaigns that target our Democratic Electoral processes, and other novel threats we have not traditionally faced. We also have to keep a sharp eye on the horizon for threats we cannot even imagine yet. Due to the explosive pace of technological advancement. What is important now is how we perform our Critical Missions. We do that by remaining agile and resilient and leveraging the power of partnerships. The simple truth is the world in which we live, where technological change is accelerating so rapidly, no single entity, government or otherwise, possesses all of the data from all of the pallet talent, all of the capabilities, or all of the legal authorities necessary to successfully address emerging threats and opportunities. Unanticipated and complex transnational issues will require close collaboration among multiple entities to succeed. Our National Security, our National Prosperity and National Identity will depend on our ability to adapt to an emerging future. Staying fast and agile in this everchanging future means we will need to work with others across government, academia, the public, the private sector, and with our partners and allies around the world. Let me give you a few examples of the things we are doing with our partners. In an illustration of the importance we place on our partnerships, last year nsa and industry cyber analysts sitting sidebyside at our Cyber Collaboration Center identified a potential cyber incident by Chinese Government hackers against one of our Defense Industrial based partners. By working closely with Industry Partners we are able to short order to identify the nature of the threat. A zero day vulnerability in some centric software. We worked with citrix to devise a patch then issue a notification to potential victims simultaneously with a patch release before the chinese were able to begin exploiting their malicious access. Within days of the notification going out, the number of Vulnerable Services across the u. S. And those operated by european and allied partners dropped by 25 . That has impacted to scale. The entire operation occurred solely because of nsa collaboration with our Industry Partners. Another example of the importance of partnerships are our operations teams that deploy around the world at request of partners to assist them against malicious cyber actors. Putting our Cyber Warriors from u. S. Cyber command sidebyside with foreign partners, cyber specialists provide unique access to our Partners Networks and skills helping them better understand the Cyber Threats they may face in helping us improve our own skills and enlarging our knowledge of our adversaries operations and intentions. These Forward Operations have been a resounding success at thwarting aligned cyber activities by our mutual adversaries. In ukraine and elsewhere have been deployed 51 times 224 separate countries on 77 networks we are having an impact. Through these efforts and with our partners approval Cyber Command exposed more than 90 Malicious Software samples that cost these malicious cyber actors time, money, and effort. Because of our relationship that presents with our partners approval, we have the ability to bring malware samples back to the u. S. For analysis when found , share them broadly with government and private sector partners, and come to help ensure our Critical Infrastructure is better protected. With the strength and breadth of our partnerships and our increasingly expanded ability to provide critical and actionable information in a timely manner to our partners we are wellpositioned to address our future challenges. Artificial intelligence has been in the news a lot lately and is on the mind of our National Leaders and is certainly the public. Ai will be increasingly consequential for National Security, in diplomatic, military, technological and economic matters for our country, allies, and partners. All three highlevel National Security strategies emphasize the point made the national secured a strategy, the National Defense strategy, the National Intelligence strategy. To date the u. S. Leads in this critical area but this lead should not be taken for granted. Our adversaries that have for decades used theft and exploitation of our intellectual property to advance their interests will seek to coopt advances in ai and corrupt our application of it. To help combat this, the agency recently conducted an indepth study of ai that builds on years of applying Artificial Intelligence in our mission. We want to ensure the nsa has a clear path forward to address both the opportunities and challenges of ai as the industry rockets forward with innovation. One of the key findings of the study was a tyranny for focus on ai security. Nsa has particular responsibilities for ai security as a National Manager for National Security systems and because of its support to the Defense Industrial base. National Security System owners and the Defense Industrial base are increasingly acquiring, developing, and integrating ai capabilities in defense systems, cybersecurity sediment mission capabilities. Concurrently adversaries are moving quickly to develop and apply their own ai. We will begin to explore and exploit vulnerabilities in u. S. And allied ai systems. Ai security its about protecting ai systems from learning, doing command revealing the wrong thing. Its a set of practices to protect ai systems and lifecycles from digital attacks, theft, and damage. We must build a robust understanding of ai vulnerabilities, foreign intelligence threats to the systems, and ways to encounter the threat to have ai security. We must also ensure Malicious Foreign actors can steal cannot steal americas innovative ai capability. To do so, and here is my big reveal, the nsa is consolidating its various ai security related activities into a new entity. The nsa Artificial Intelligence Security Center. Which, since ai security is principally a cybersecurity responsibility, will be located within and part of the nsa cybersecurity Collaboration Center. The nsas principles and values along with our compliance and protection of privacy and Civil Liberties will serve as the foundation for the Ai Security Center activities. The Ai Security Center will be ais nsas bullet point for ai inside contributing to the vet up that of element of best practices, guidelines, and principles, methodologies, and frameworks for ai security with an end goal of promoting secure development, integration, and adoption of ai capabilities within our nationals pretty systems and Defense Industrial base. The Ai Security Center will also help the industry understand the threats against intellectual property had collaborate help prevent and eradicate the threats. The Ai Security Center will work closely with u. S. Industry, National Labs come academia come across the ic and a department of defense and select foreign partners. The nsa is uniquely wellpositioned to bring its unique talent and expertise, threat insights, and authorities as the manager for National Security systems and its work with the Defense Industrial base to support this whole of government effort in conjunction with the private sector to ensure the u. S. Enduring advantage in Artificial Intelligence. Ai security is fundamental to that effort. I will end with thoughts on the road ahead. While the challenges we face are undeniable, so is our strength. That gives me a strong feeling of confidence and optimism for our future. As a nation we fundamentally differ from our adversaries. Our freedom to live at freedom to innovate give us energy to create and apply new technologies and equips us to rise to any challenge. I need two organizations. The u. S. Cyber command and the National Security agency. With the brightest minds in the business dedicated to the Critical Mission of defending the u. S. Senate protecting its interests. Our workforce, with an unshakable belief in the importance of upholding the trust handed to them and the oath they swore to upkeep. I am optimistic because the people of our nation remade its greatest asset. Working together we have the resiliency to adapt to any challenge and as a resolve to succeed against any foe. Our adversaries should never underestimate the power of a free people to create opportunity, rise to any challenge, and prevail against any threat of a technological, or otherwise. Thank you again. Thank you to the National Press club. The work you do on behalf of the nation is critically important. I applaud you for your service to the American People. Thank you very much. [applause] thank you for that. We will do our q a now. I want to start with questions on protecting democracy, particularly, the 2024 election. What is the nsa doing right now to protect that skiers vote and what are you seeing particularly next years vote and what are using particularly from russia and china you are not dutch have not seen before . Gen. Nakasone this will be the fourth election that the u. S. National Security Agency and Cyber Command came together to ensure in partnership with the work of our government a safe and secure election. Our template edit methodology has not changed all the way back to 2018, the midterm elections. That is to understand the threat better than they understand themselves, share information with our close List Partners like that apartment of unsecured and the federal bureau of investigation. Then finally take action against any threat outside the u. S. That attempts to influence or interfere with our election. It has been a successful template in 2018, 2020, 2022. It will be again in 2024. We have stood up our election secured group and come together and are already starting to work that i think will be foundational for us to understand what the election will bring towards us. Can you talk more about the threat . What is different in 2024 you are having to defend against that was not around in 2020. Gen. Nakasone what is one of the things we have seen is the rising in the scope, scale, and sophistication of what is being done. More actors, more technology, more attempts at different ways in which they try to create influence or interference. Here is the thing i would emphasize. In 18, 20, and 22 we have always been able to stay ahead of that. That is because of the partnership that we understand outside the United States what is happening, communicating that with our partners in the dhs and fbi and local and state levels. Being well informed on what is going on. We will see new technology, certainly. We will see new techniques. We may even see new actors. But at the end of the day the work we come together to do, we can defeat those threats. You just discussed as a new ai center. How are you seeing ai affected the vote particularly with deepfakes and what are you doing about that . Gen. Nakasone this is an area that gives us all pause. We bought two men hang vigilance we want to maintain vigilance about what we are seeing out there. We want to ensure we understand the threat techniques of our adversaries, understand how they use different platforms. And partly for us, being able to secure our own security, of our own ai platforms, that is one of the things we are focused on now. I think as i mentioned, the Artificial Intelligence the Security Center that we are standing up now is fundamental to understanding our threat and also being able to communicate the secure means to conduct ai. To the extent you can, can you talk about how what you are seeing now is directly tied, statesponsored, to russia or china . Gen. Nakasone i think we need to be very clear id about this eyed about this. Nationstate adversaries will try to use this technology. But my point in my remarks is we maintain an advantage in ai today. That advantage should not be taken for granted. One of the things we are doing as a National Security agency is, how do we ensure the security of what goes on . Website followup. Are you seeing a followup. Are you seeing russia and china actively now trying to affect the 2024 vote . Gen. Nakasone we have not seen that yet. It is important to remember a number of elections take place normally before our own election. We work with partners and allies to ensure we can provide any assistance. But, to specifically answer that, no, not yet. Tara i will ask a little bit about internal change over the last several years. The Intelligence Community has been accused of having a deep estate political base. Deep estate political base. What has the agency done to address these concerns . Has there been internal training on how to remain nonpartisan . Is this an issue in the agency . Gen. Nakasone the piece to address here is the fact that there are three pillars important to us. First, there is this culture of compliance that i spoke about. When you come into our agency day one you swear a note to the constitution, you are trained in terms of what to do and it is info emphasized that when mistakes happen we report mistakes, follow up on the states, then address them. The other piece is robust oversight from the branches of government, legislative, executive, judicial all have oversight activities conducted by our agency. The last part is transparency about what we do in terms of our ability to talk about what we are doing and the fact i am here at the National Press club today addressing that is part of the transparency. The ability to show the people i invited to come with me as part of that transparency. I think that is increasingly an important part of what we do. Tara well, you announced your retirement in may and you are still here. Because, your successor cannot get confirmed. I am wondering because of the need for the 2024 security if your successor cannot get put in place, are you willing to stay in this spot . What sort of risk there would be would there be if the seat is vacant . Gen. Nakasone i intend to stay in my successor is confirmed. Every morning i am excited to get up and go to work and lead these two organizations. When the confirmation happens there will be a great follow on person. But until that happens i will be leading the agency. Tara even through november 2024 . Gen. Nakasone i will be leading the agency. Tara i want to ask you about section 702. You have discussed how important this is to the agency. The independent watchdog came out with a report today saying anything that section 702 collects when targeting a foreign person, and a u. S. Person is involved, it recommends you have to go through fifa. This does not seem to be something your agency wants. Can you expand why . Gen. Nakasone back to 702. Our focus is on foreign persons outside the u. S. When there is collection of u. S. Persons in that, we take very significant matters in terms of being able to ensure the protection of that information, being able to ensure there are only select people authorized to look at the information. Then, we also at times are able to utilize that to provide information about, perhaps, the rest of that person let me give you an example. Perhaps, two adversaries are talking and they are talking about the fact that they are going to conduct a Ransomware Attacks against attack against a u. S. Company. The fact we are then able to recognize that and be able to, working with the federal bureau of investigation, worn that company is a good example of a timely means on which we use 702. Being able to protect the Civil Liberties and privacy of the company is an important piece. The last thing i would say is this is a collection that is legally and lawfully collected by our agencies. That is really important as we look at and consider the reauthorization. Of 702. Tara if are you concerned if a court is needed to decide if you can use that you will lose the advantage of timeliness . What are your concerns about the recommendations . Gen. Nakasone one thing to remember is authorities have to do two things in my mind. One, ensure our National Security and two, ensure our Civil Liberties and privacy. That cannot be out of balance. So, my concern is, can we ensure with that authority both those things . If we cannot, then, obviously, our policymakers will provide additional feedback on that. That is my concern. Just being able to balance that equation. That is something we always work towards. Tara so, given the failure of congress to reach consensus on important issues like keeping the government open, how confident are you that they will renew 702 forte december 31 . Gen. Nakasone i remain very active and confident that we will be able to get this reauthorized. This is our work Going Forward. It is something we will not rest on. I think we will get reauthorized. Tara doesnt the agency need to do more work to convince american citizens that the authority would not be used to collect information against them . Gen. Nakasone i think the confidence of the American People izzys join we have to make sure we continue to communicate that the people of our country understand we are acting in a way that is lawful and a way that protects their Civil Liberties and privacies and protects them. I think we have work to do to make sure that we continue to deliver that message. Tara Something Congress was concerned about renewing this authority, though, they worry about the fbi being able to access some of this intelligence. If push came to shove, what the Intelligence Community be willing to limit the fbis access to information on u. S. Persons in order to get the authority renewed . Gen. Nakasone i cannot speak for the Intelligence Community, but what i can say, let me just talk a little bit about the importance of the federal bureau of investigation. The federal bureau of investigation has unique authorities and responsibilities to conduct operations within the United States. Authorities that we do not have, nor should we have. It is a vital partner for us to be able to do election security, to identify threats, to have that person and that organization that can do that with the u. S. People. I think that that is the important piece we have to do. We have to make sure that all of our Intelligence Community cannot can operate in amines that brings us a degree of National Security. Tara more timeliness, barring any sort of decision by congress, in about 48 hours, we will be in a government shutdown. I want to know what guidance you are providing, both here in sa Government Employees and contractors . To your nsa Government Employees and contractors . Gen. Nakasone we provided guidance regarding what occurs in various shutdowns. Who has excepted service, who has to come in, those things. And additional areas where they can seek answers to questions. I am very confident that information has been shared. I am very hopeful we get a resolution before the first of october. Tara given the criticality of your mission will most of the workforce be reporting in without getting paid . Gen. Nakasone military is excepted service, so they will certainly come in. We will be able to conduct our missions. We will ensure the security of what we are tasked to do. I am concerned personally being the leader of organizations with regards to both the civilian and military workforce that could go without pay for two weeks as paychecks become due and people obviously have their own requirements and bills and lives they have to lead. So that certainly got my attention. Tara i want to shift to china. The summer it was reported china has been operate operating a spy base in cuba since 2019 and is possibly trying to move ahead on building an electronic surveillance building. Can you give us updates on the status of that building or how concerned you are that the spy base exists in cuba . Gen. Nakasone i have a couple thoughts on this. No, i cannot give you any more details with regards to what is going on here. But, let me talk in general in terms of what we think about. There is a vigilance we certainly have as we look at adversaries that gen. Nakasone a couple of thoughts on this one. No, i cannot give you more details as regards to what is going on but let me talk in general terms as we think about it. There is a vigilance that we have and we look at adversaries of the United States, whether a spy base or highaltitude balloon, this is something we take seriously. This is a country that has designs in terms of being other places in the world, so as i mentioned in my remarks we are a place of strategic competition. Tara the Emergency Response center has accused the u. S. Of hacking into its networks and i am wondering, the community has said they are doing all offensive operations. Was the nsa or u. S. Cyber command involved in these incidents in china . Gen. Nakasone we dont talk about our operations. This is what guides us at the agency in command. First, the guidance is from our laws, our civilian readers in terms of actions. It is designed in terms of our values as a nation, and third it is conducted in a manner that is reflective of our nation, so that is how i will answer that question. Tara thank you. A final one on china. What do you think china is trying to accomplish by having the surveillance of u. S. Military bases . There have been a number of incursions. Share your thoughts on that, please. Gen. Nakasone gen. Nakasone this is an area we have increased vigilance on. How do we ensure we do not have miscommunication or some type of mistake in terms of our forces Going Forward . That is one area of the secretary of defense and chairman have been vocal about, communicating with their counterparts in china. Unfortunately that has not been taken as a given and one of the things we learn previously about being able to communicate with Senior Leaders of the defense establishment or military leaders is the ability to drive down risks of that is one things i am hopeful in the weeks and months to come but will reengineer to have these comps or stations. Tara what steps are being taken . A number of different engagements. I know my counterpart is in the region quite frequently talking to our partners in being able to conduct outreach. Our policy and Senior Department leaders are doing that as well. Tara i would like to shift to russia. What has the agency learned from the ukraine war, particularly russias use of state actors, hackers, militant groups, such as sand worms . What are you doing to defend against it . Gen. Nakasone i am a bit of iteration this afternoon. There are three pieces we have learned. First, persistence, being persistent engaged, something u. S. Cyber command has been doing. How do we understand what our adversaries are doing and share that information with partners. We sent a hunt for team and ukraine 70 days before the ground war is an example of that. Second, partnerships. The tremendous value of partnerships we have being able to understand what an adversary is doing. Nato has never been stronger. The work of the commander of european command and the supreme allied commander of europe is a game changer, building these partnerships with the number of different nations to be able to address the threats on the ground and in cyberspace. Finally, this is private sector, the idea of how do we get the scale . We get to scale with the private sector. Being able to operate with privatesector firms and share that information and understand what theyre seeing and taking got together, that is what we have that our adversaries do not have. Tara can you tell us about the nature of the cyber conflict in ukraine . Gen. Nakasone a little bit about the nature. First of all, at the beginning, much more active than we initially thought. A tremendous amount of activity within ukraine, being able to attack a number of different sectors. The other thing is probably a lesson on impact. Ukraine took early actions to stem the concerns in cyberspace that they might face, moving data outside the country, getting experts into ukraine, continually communicate. The idea of communications, even when your National Communications is taken down, it something we should learn from, but since that time, we see different actions but the one thing that is important that we as both a nation and our partners have remain vigilant. That is in large part to why we have had success against these adversaries. Tara a little earlier this year, japan was reported the hack in japan which potentially put a lot of u. S. Information at risk, u. S. Military cooperation information at risk, what has been learned from that and as we become more interconnected with allies and try to reduce the walls between our militaries, operations, communications, how can you ensure that a hack in japan does not end up coming something worse for the u. S. . Tara this is another piece of ukraine we should apply to our future crises and conflicts. Gen. Nakasone think about the power of us being able to share our information both with the Global Public leading up to february 24, where we were able to tell the public what would happen and what russia might tried to do but also the daily sharing of information with crane. The intelligence we are able to provide as a community into partners and ukraine is a difference maker. As we look at that and think about future crises and conflict, we want to do the same thing, to share that, and that is a lesson we should take. Cybersecurity matters for our partners, for us, and raising that ensures our information and intelligence and knowledge can be shared securely. Tara does that mean the level of cybersecurity that we maintain in the u. S. That we would require that of partners too . Gen. Nakasone one clear message is we want to share security with our partners. When i talk with our partners, its one thing we want to emphasize, to share this information and make sure it is not read by our adversaries. Again, just the lessons we have learned over the past couple of years with ukraine emphasizes that. Tara we have a number of airelated questions so i will go back to ai. What you think of using ai to automate the analysis of all the threat vectors in red flag alerts . Gen. Nakasone so, this is an important piece. At our agency, command, within the dod and Intelligence Community, ai helps us, but our decisions are made by humans and that is an important distinction. That is how we look at it, so we see assistance from Artificial Intelligence but at the end of the day decisions will be made with humans in the loop. Tara this is an ai privacy question, should americans stop the expansion of Surveillance Society given the ability of ai to curtail freedoms . Gen. Nakasone one more time. Im sorry. Tara should americans stop the expansion of the surveillance id given the potential of ai to curtail freedoms . Gen. Nakasone i will leave that question for someone else to answer but let me say in terms of what i see. As a nation, we need the ability to understand what our adversaries do in a National Security that balances this with Civil Liberties and privacy, and that is what our Intelligence Committee does very well. Tara this is somewhat related to the partners question. Countries that dont have the hardware and strength to attack the u. S. Physically have the ability to undermine the u. S. Anonymously. It seems like kinetic warfare is being placed by cyber warfare, something you have seen in the past few years. Do you think this is the future of warfare and how does the u. S. Defend against it . Gen. Nakasone you should probably not be surprised that the director of National Security and u. S. Cyber command sees the changing character of warfare occurring in intelligence and automation are part of that so as we look at it , we want to advance our competitive advantage, which is our intelligence ability to see what our adversaries are doing, so when we have those discussions, the discussions are how do we protect that, in something that we work very closely with our partners on. Tara this is a cybersecurity question on the industry side. So, how would industries that would not necessarily have the same level of cybersecurity, not connected into National Defense, however as periphery, there might be a backdoor. What did they need to do to better defend themselves, companies, to not create a vulnerability . Gen. Nakasone i think that the sector we are responsible for is a Defense Industrial base but broadly outside the other 13 sectors come up when there are Companies Like this able to work with the element of the Department Homeland security to get their advisories is important. If i might come of this is an important piece. We stood up cybersecurity Collaboration Center nsa and 2020 and said we want to work with the Defense Industrial base. We found out initially the way we have to work as we have to work in their medium. Their medium is not a classified medium, so meeting with them and talking with them on different channels and sharing information in an unclassified manner is what we are doing. The other part is why dont we provide a series of products that ensure a higher degree of cybersecurity . So, providing scanning to the Defense Industrial base to see what vulnerabilities they have are some ways were looking at this equation differently. You opened up with the concerns we have broadly about a number of different adversaries in the scope and the scale they are conducting operations, this is the weight we are addressing it, think having a great effect on it. Tara you talked about different threats but i have not ask you what is the one threat that really keeps you up at night . What is the most dangerous in your realm . Gen. Nakasone so, um, what i think about all the time, i think about our people all the time, and being able to recruit, able to train, retain, and returned to workforce. What makes this different is our workforce. We are also in a time where there is tremendous competition for that workforce, getting the best and brightest. The folks i invited to be here at the table, being able to recruit that type of talent. I think about how do we have new partnerships, new ways of being able to make what we do attractive to others to come work with us, and that is the one thing when people say what you think about all the time. I think about that. Tara are you most concerned about the barrier to entry such as security clearance, salary, what makes it more difficult for you . Gen. Nakasone i think there are a lot of choices for very talented people these days. And as they make those decisions for their future, one of the things we want to make sure is not only is our mission attractive, but where we work matters, and being able to ensure they can do that work in a manner that is really impactful for them is something that is attractive about it. Tara the most recent question by god goes back to the nature of warfare i got goes back to the nature of warfare. Are you worried as these technological advances get more sophisticated, the way to attack through cyberattack is much easier than sending a big army across an ocean, is this do you think again, the future of the nature of warfare . Do you think it would be more attractive for china to launch a massive cyberattack than launch a regular kinetic attack . Gen. Nakasone so i think as we think about the future we should anticipate adversaries trying to exploit any vulnerability we might have, so as i think about that, how do we make sure we protect and ensure the vulnerabilities we have in a place like cyberspace are well protected . This is why there has been tremendous change in our nation the past couple of years to get after those, whether it is looking at the Cyberspace Commission and saying hey, these things need to change to affect a more secure ecosystem, or whether or not it is our ability to work with a series of private sector partners. This is how we address the vulnerabilities. It is a challenging way for any adversary to conduct significant operations in cyberspace. Lets make sure we make it more challenging. Tara so this submitted question is about edward snowden. After he fled to moscow in 2013 to avoid espionage charges, how did the nsa shakeup how it handles contractors, its own workforce regulations, what has changed since then to prevent another massive leak . Tara we take a holistic look at our security, whether a foreign adversary or whether not an insider threat. Gen. Nakasone we had an opportunity to look very deep in hard in terms of how we secure networks and data over the past three or four years, and it has made a difference and i think that again, being resolved to ensure that what we operate with, the most Sensitive Information perhaps in our government is well secured and it is something we take very seriously. Tara so, the second to last question, this one is on quantum cryptography, so everyone in this audience knows about that, raise your hands are probably a lot of people in this audience, but the question is what is this and why is is intentionally a future threat for all of our data . Gen. Nakasone so, quantum, the ability as we look at the future for perhaps an adversary to build a machine that can break, all of our encryption. Think about the encryption when you log on to a site to buy something from your normally getting a handshake at the top and you can exchange your credit card information and you have done it securely. That is encryption, being able to secure our data. Well, quantum is the ability for a future adversary if developed to break all that encryption. What are you doing about it . We are building quantumresistant encryption that would defeat a quantum capability. We have begun to develop that code. That code will now be shared with our National Security systems and in the broader u. S. Public. We have 10 years to do that and we are very serious about it. I mentioned the nsa does two things that make us unique, we make code and we work code. This is about making great code. Tara so, if you get to retire [laughter] what are your plans and what would you like to do after your military career comes to an end . Gen. Nakasone i suspect my wife is watching [laughter] so i want to say we will be retiring in one of the things were looking forward to is taking time off, spending time with our children, then i think for us it will be some type of how do we give back. I do believe that that all the opportunities i have been afforded, one of the things i hopes to do someday is give back. Tara it sounds like another role in Public Service . Gen. Nakasone im not sure, but another way i can provide the opportunities that have been afforded to meet back to another generation. Tara so before i ask the final final question, i wanted to take a moment to thank the organizers of todays event, the headliners code team leaders, todays headliner event coordinator, club events coordinator, Club Membership director, and Club Executive director. So, it is also my great honor to present to you with the National Press club mug. [applause] we learned earlier today that this was his first visit to the club, and besides looking at the pictures, i am glad you have an official mug to enjoy your beverages with. Gen. Nakasone i think that is really cool. It will be on my desk. And it is fantastic. Tara there are no bugs, i promise. Maybe you can tell us your favorite memory or most absurd thing that the nsa has had to do, something you tell all of your staff what youve had to do in this long career in cybersecurity . Gen. Nakasone if i may share it, i am not sure it qualifies but it does involve my role as a director of the nsa. I was invited back lezz november is a special last november as a special guest of the minnesota vikings. I am a huge fan, and they have been my Favorite Team for years, so to go back and sheer my team cheer my team, i thought what a great opportunity. It comes after the weekend we had a big win against buffalo and were on a sevengame winning streak and they brought me to the platform to blow the horn and i blew the horn and everybody was doing the skull chant and slight great, we will win this big game. I went back to my seat and we fumbled the ball and the worst defeat in an assertive vikings history. [laughter] my sense is that they will never invite me back. [laughter] and then, then one of my colleagues on the following monday said Something Like this, a, general we just got a phone call hey, general, we just got a phone call. I said from who . He said from the Dallas Cowboys. [laughter] Dallas Cowboys . Perhaps you can blow that horn for him every single game . [laughter] tara so, from an intelligence gathering perspective, what are you doing differently next time . Gen. Nakasone i better pick a better adversary when the vikings are going against them, so thank you very much. Tara tara we have a few honest minutes here. Gen. Nakasone ok. Tara alongside your favorite memories, either favorite nsa jokes you have . Gen. Nakasone certainly none that i can repeat here. [laughter] tara so you could tell us but then you would have to gen. Nakasone i dont even know if i could tell you. [laughter] what i would like to say, on behalf of all of us at the National Security agency and u. S. Cyber command, thank you. Thank you for what has been for us i think a really important time over the past couple of years to demonstrate our value to the nation and also to tell our story, a story of people, people that do incredible things at our agency. So i do think the National Press club should be thanked for the ability to do that and as i said in the beginning of my talk, the importance of being able to maintain our democracy through being able to able to have this ongoing discussion terms of what we do as a nation. Tara in terms of your service in your own career and now prepping up, what has it meant to you to be wrapping up, what has it meant to lead the nsa and a time of great technological change . Gen. Nakasone i think that the one thing that i do kinda ascribe to is the idea that the agency in command are two different organizations built for the toughest problems our nation faces, so to be able to see how these problems get solved, to see how we do it in a manner that maintains the trust and confidence of the American People and do it in a manner that ensures our National Security, that is humbling, really humbling. Tara in the workforce . Gen. Nakasone the workforce is incredible. Tara in your very last minutes here with us, when you started, i am guessing the workforce looked different than it does today, and where do you see this moving toward now . You need a younger workforce, basically born with an iphone in their hand, so how do you recruit that and keep that going for the next generation . Gen. Nakasone i think your point is well taken. The one thing we have also lived through his covid, and covid was for us an opportunity to look at ourselves differently in terms of how do we ensure that the workforce we continue to recruit , that we continue to train, that we continue to attempt to retain has the resiliency and appreciation in terms of how we do our business . That is why i said what we do, it has not changed much about how we do has changed tremendously and that is part of us and as we shape the challenges and opportunities of the future and driving what we do today. Tara well, without, i would like to have a round of applause. Thank you so much for being with us today. [applause] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2023] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] [applause] tara this is my first one, so im a little bit at it, but i get to do this. We are adjourned. [laughs] [applause]