Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano opened the new National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center (NCCIC)—a 24-hour, DHS-led coordinated watch and warning center.

The center combines two of DHS’ operational organizations: the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT), which leads a public-private partnership to protect and defend the nation’s cyber infrastructure; and the National Coordinating Center for Telecommunications (NCC), the operational arm of the National Communications System.

 

 

In addition, the NCCIC will integrate the efforts of the National Cybersecurity Center (NCSC), which coordinates operations among the six largest federal cyber centers; the DHS Office of Intelligence and Analysis and private sector partners.

 

The NCCIC was created at the recommendation of the National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee, the Government Accountability Office and a joint industry-government working group, which emphasized the need for collocation, integration and interoperability among existing cyber and communications incident response mechanisms.