New US federal agency to combat threats in cyberspace

Washington

THE Obama administration is establishing a new agency to combat the deepening threat from cyberattacks, and its mission will be to fuse intelligence from around the government when a crisis occurs.

The agency is modelled after the National Counterterrorism Centre, which was launched in the wake of the Sept 11, 2001 attacks amid criticism that the government failed to share intelligence that could have unravelled the al-Qaida plot.