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NSTAC
The
NSTAC Mission and Key Themes
Meeting our Nation’s critical
national security and emergency preparedness (NS/EP) challenges
demands attention to many issues. Among these, none could be more
important than the availability and reliability of telecommunication
services. The President’s National Security Telecommunications
Advisory Committee (NSTAC) mission is to provide the U.S. Government
the best possible industry advice in these areas.
25 Years of Partnership
For over 25 years, the NSTAC has brought together up to 30 industry
chief executives from major telecommunications companies, network
service providers, information technology, finance, and aerospace
companies. These industry leaders provide the President with collaborative
advice and expertise, as well as robust reviews and recommendations.
The NSTAC’s goal is to develop recommendations to the President
to assure vital telecommunications links through any event or crisis,
and to help the U.S. Government maintain a reliable, secure, and
resilient national communications posture.
Beyond the industry collaboration alone, the NSTAC serves as a prominent
model for trusted public/private partnerships, resulting in mutually
beneficial information sharing mechanisms and the implementation
of several programs to reinforce that partnership. One of the NSTAC’s
first efforts recommended the creation of the National Coordinating
Center as an operational arm of the NSTAC, and later, as the Information
Sharing and Analysis Center for the communications sector, where
information relevant to the protection and operation of the communications
infrastructure is shared between industry and Government. Subsequently,
the NSTAC also helped to establish the industry and Government Network
Security Information Exchanges, allowing representatives from the
public and private sectors to share sensitive information on threats
to operations, administration, maintenance, and provisioning systems
supporting the telecommunications infrastructure. The NSTAC recognized
that information sharing is a key component to the industry and
Government relationship, tying together all facets of the NSTAC
agenda to provide resilient national telecommunications services.
Since its inception, the NSTAC has addressed a wide range of policy
and technical issues regarding communications, information systems,
information assurance, critical infrastructure protection, and other
NS/EP communications concerns. In recent years, the Government,
with the support of the NSTAC, addressed new NS/EP challenges caused
by several primary factors: the convergence of traditional and broadband
networks; the changing global threat environment; and the continuing
global expansion of both provider and user communities. In the face
of this ever-increasing complexity of the domestic and global network
environment, the NSTAC’s work, more so than ever, is of vital
national importance, and the committee remains vigilant in aggressively
addressing our Nation’s highest priority NS/EP communications
needs.
Throughout the NSTAC’s history, five key themes
continue to emerge as their major areas of focus:
The NSTAC remains committed to providing the
best possible technical information and policy advice to assist
the President and other stakeholders responsible for the critical
NS/EP services for our Nation.
Additional information about NSTAC and its reports are available
in the NSTAC Publications
section.
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