Homeland Security Secretary Nicholas Tucci said the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) has announced that the agency will be creating an independent “Homeland Security Innovation Program” to “bring together experts and innovators across all domains of homeland security to work on solutions to common threats”.
The NCTC will establish a Center for the Study of Intelligence and Counterterrorism, with Tucci as chairman, and will “create and conduct research, and coordinate activities with the private sector and government entities”.
The NCTC’s Director, Michael McConnell, said the initiative will focus on “the intersection of intelligence, cyber, and homeland security and their ability to address the challenges we face as a Nation and the challenges that our Nation faces.”
According to a press release from the NCTC, the initiative’s primary mission will be to provide “a strategic roadmap to develop a new national homeland security strategy that will support the Nation’s counterterrorism efforts and promote national security”.
Tucci said he has been looking at ways to integrate the NCTCA’s “core capabilities” to enhance the department’s national security and to better integrate intelligence, including the use of drones.
He added that the NCTCs “core capability” is to help “the Department develop and test its intelligence collection and analysis systems, and develop and evaluate its intelligence products and services”.
“The Center will be an integral part of our broader national security strategy to enhance homeland security by developing and testing capabilities that enhance the effectiveness of the Nations ability to protect and defend the Nation,” Tucci added.
The NCTCs director said the Center would work with the National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center (NCICIC) to develop national security strategies that would support and enhance national security.
The NCDC is a federally funded agency with a mission to strengthen the Nation against threats to the homeland.
It oversees the nations intelligence gathering, analysis and sharing capabilities, including sharing cyber threat information and sharing information about the vulnerabilities of critical infrastructure systems.
According to its website, the NCTc is a “partner in the development of strategic information and analysis that can support homeland security.”
