Does NSA's Cyber Security Mission Extend to the dot.Com Domain?

William Jackson writes on FCW.com:

The National Security Agency appears to be suffering a case of mission creep.

For years, NSA, the Defense Department’s lead agency for information gathering and protection, has said that it has its hands full with protecting military networks and has no interest in networks outside the .mil domain. The .gov domain is the responsibility of Homeland Security, NSA said, and the .com and other private-sector domains are the responsibility of the private sector, with DHS help.

Of course, NSA would also be willing to lend a hand if needed, but it has no direct responsibility for non-military networks.

These statements have been taken with a grain of salt by many in the security world, especially with the revelation of wholesale illegal wiretaps that were discovered sweeping up traffic from commercial networks during the Bush administration. Now, DOD is admitting the obvious by saying that its interests extend beyond .mil.

More here.