US Cyber Command head: “The threats are real.”

National Security Agency (NSA) director and US Cyber Command head General Keith Alexander said today that, “The Internet is fragile,” and that “The threats are real,” to the audience at the Gov 2.0 Summit in Washington DC today.

Cyber Command is located at Ft. Meade outside of the US capital, and according to its mission statement:

Plans, coordinates, integrates, synchronizes, and conducts activities to: direct the operations and defense of specified Department of Defense information networks and; prepare to, and when directed, conduct full-spectrum military cyberspace operations in order to enable actions in all domains, ensure US/Allied freedom of action in cyberspace and deny the same to our adversaries.

According to The Hill, Alexander also said today that, “We made the Internet, and it seems to me that we ought to be the first folks to get out there and protect it. The challenge before us is large and daunting. But we have an obligation to meet it head-on.” He was also quoted as saying, “Malicious actors a continent away can exploit our networks. They’re becoming better organized and sophisticated at exploiting weaknesses in our technologies.”

Regarding privacy, the head of the NSA said that, “Our citizens take a lot of interest in the government’s activities in this area, and I have an obligation to the law and the American people to ensure everything we do preserves and protects their rights while protecting our interests. That’s an obligation that’s never compromised.”