The National Security Agency is in the midst of a fast-moving reorganization that will replace its current directorate structure with five new “mission centers,” according to multiple people familiar with the plan. The centers will be devoted to China, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, combat support, and global intelligence, with each led by its own chief.
Army Gen. Joshua Rudd, who leads both the NSA and U.S. Cyber Command, briefed the agency’s workforce on the changes earlier this month and set a 30-day deadline to begin implementation. Some appointments, including the incoming head of the new AI mission center, have reportedly already been selected and could be announced internally as soon as this week.
Key details still unresolved
Several structural questions remain open. Tailored Access Operations, the NSA’s elite hacking unit that dates back to the 1990s and was recently revived, is expected to fall under the global intelligence center. But it is unclear what will happen to other units created in recent years, such as the Cybersecurity Collaboration Center. The reorganization’s effect on the NSA’s close working relationship with Cyber Command, which shares personnel and a Fort Meade campus with the agency, is also still being worked out.
Sources say Rudd and NSA Deputy Director Tim Kosiba understand the rapid timeline will disrupt the agency’s typically slow bureaucracy and expect to make adjustments as issues surface. The five centers are targeted to reach “full operational capability,” the point at which each can perform its required missions, by January.
Learning from past reorganizations
This marks the NSA’s largest restructuring effort in roughly a decade. The previous overhaul, known as “NSA21,” attempted to merge the agency’s offensive and defensive missions but is now widely viewed by current and former officials as a bureaucratic failure. A more recent effort, “EVO25,” launched early in the second Trump administration to consolidate NSA offices, was reportedly abandoned amid concerns it would be seen as preempting an externally imposed restructuring plan.
During his January confirmation hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee, Rudd told lawmakers his priorities were “speed,” followed by “scale,” “innovation,” and “integration,” emphasizing the need to move quickly to field the right technologies and capabilities. He was confirmed to the dual-hat NSA and Cyber Command role in March. Sources say that push for faster intelligence delivery to military customers is shared across NSA leadership, including Kosiba and Executive Director Darren Turner.
The NSA did not respond to a request for comment.