The National Counterintelligence and Security Center (NCSC) debuted Monday, Dec 1, as the U.S. intelligence community seeks to stay ahead of the aggressive evolution of complicated espionage, cyber and security threats, WTOP reports.

The NCSC will now become the parent organization of the Office of the National Counterintelligence Executive (ONCIX), which was created by the Counterintelligence Enhancement Act of 2002 to carry out counterintelligence and security responsibilities for the Director of National Intelligence.

The NCSC's purpose is "to provide a leadership construct for (U.S. government) security personnel, outside of the counterintelligence framework," said NCIX director William Evanina.

Evanina, who will be dual-hatted as the director of the NCSC, was quoted by WTOP as saying that the creation of the center was predicated by the destructive growth and complexity of cyber threats, economic espionage, insider threats, and supply chain threats.

The rapid growth in internet-based attacks on U.S. government agencies and businesses aimed at gathering personally identifiable information (PII) on U.S. citizens is a leading reason for the establishment of the NCSC. PII is often collected, by foreign nation-states, for the purpose of attempting to use U.S. citizens as spies whether they are aware of it or not.

The agency said in a statement the NCSC will integrate and align counterintelligence and security mission areas, and carry out counterintelligence and security responsibilities under a single organizational model, much like the National Counter-terrorism Center (NCTC) and the National Counter- proliferation Center (NCPC).