National Cybersecurity Center Aims to Share Intel Worldwide, Act as a Broker

The Colorado-based National Cybersecurity Center (NCC), announced in January by Gov. John Hickenlooper as the National Cybersecurity Intelligence Center, will aim to have a collaborative mission.

“It cannot be seen as duplicating or competing with the private sector or anybody else for that matter,” Gen. Ed Anderson, the center’s interim executive director, told attendees of the Colorado Digital Government Summit on Oct. 4 in Denver. 

The center, which will be located in Colorado Springs, will have three operational elements:

• Cyber Institute for educating elected officials;
• Rapid Response Center, which will be a “one-stop shop” that Anderson said will act as a broker more than anything else; and
• Cyber Research, Education and Training Center, which is being designed for workforce development and will bring together research models and academia. 

The NCC has been lauded by Hickenlooper, who briefly discussed it in his 2016 State of the State Address: “As we see it, this center can be the country’s foremost authority on cybersecurity research and development, training and education. It will provide real-time response capability for businesses to detect, prevent, remediate and recover from threats and hacks.”

While the center will have a wide-ranging focus across levels of government and the private sector both inside and outside of Colorado, it may position the state as a leader in the field of cybersecurity. “Hopefully the trickledown effect will be Colorado," state CTO David McCurdy told Government Technology. "Colorado will become a base for cybersecurity and security intelligence for the world.” McCurdy also discussed the NCC’s goals in the video posted above.

The NCC board named Ed Rios, vice chairman of the Cyber Institute and a cybersecurity consultant, the center’s first CEO on Oct. 10. He will replace Anderson, who will continue his work with the NCC as a volunteer consultant.