> And yes, one of NSA's mandates is to secure U.S. communications: No, their mandates is to secure military and national security systems. From your own link,

> And yes, one of NSA's mandates is to secure U.S. communications: No, their mandates is to secure military and national security systems. From your own link, their responsibilities with respect to information assurance are (emphasis mine): - Act as the National Manager for National Security Systems as established in law and policy, and *in this capacity be responsible to the Secretary of Defense and to the Director, National Intelligence* - Prescribe security regulations covering operating practices, including the transmission, handling, and distribution of signals intelligence and communications security material *within and among the elements under control of the Director of the National Security Agency* The legal definition of National Security System is[1]: (1) National security system.— In this section, the term “national security system” means a telecommunications or information system operated by the Federal Government, the function, operation, or use of which— (A) involves intelligence activities; (B) involves cryptologic activities related to national security; (C) involves command and control of military forces; (D) involves equipment that is an integral part of a weapon or weapons system; or (E) subject to paragraph (2), is critical to the direct fulfillment of military or intelligence missions. (2) Limitation.— Paragraph (1)(E) does not include a system to be used for routine administrative and business applications (including payroll, finance, logistics, and personnel management applications). NIST has responsibility for providing guidance on securing unclassified government systems and commercial networks.[2] Like the parent commenter said, securing White House communications in particular falls under the purview of the White House Communications Agency, which is subordinate to DISA.[3] Most of the efforts to bring the NSA and the rest of the intelligence agencies into the fold with regards to securing U.S. communications at large have been heavily protested: [4][5] [1] https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/40/11103 https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/40/11103 [2] http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/nistbul/csl91-02.txt http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/nistbul/csl91-02.txt [3] http://www.disa.mil/Careers/WHCA http://www.disa.mil/Careers/WHCA [4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyber_Intelligence_Sharing_and_Protection_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyber_Intelligence_Sharing_and... [5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cybersecurity_Information_Sharing_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cybersecurity_Information_Shar...