Computer Security Act of 1987

In 1984 Regan enacted the National Security Decision Directive (NSDD) 145, which gave the NSA control over government systems containing unclassified but sensitive information. This was shortly followed by another directive which gave the NSA control over all non-government computer systems.

As a result of this government attempt at domination over all computer systems, the Computer Security act of 1987 was legislated. This act made it clear that NIST (The National Institute for Science and Technology) would be in charge of non-military, unclassified computer security, and established that the NSA (national Security Agency) could do no more than provide techniocal assistance. The Congress "rightly felt that it was inappropriate for a military intelligence agency to have control over the dissemination of unclassified information."

Since then tension between the NSA and the NIST brought about a Memorandum of Understanding, whose purpose was supposed to bring power back to the NSA, but only created a work group between the NSA and the NIST.

Information for this page was found at The Electronic Privacy Information Center