DOD Computer Security Evaluation Center

Overview
The DOD Computer Security Evaluation Center was established at the NSA in 1981 as an entity separate from the communications security structure then in place. "The reasons for this separation included the recognition that while communications security had been largely a government-owned function in which NSA developed encryption algorithms, contracted for their production, and fully controlled their distribution and use throughout the government, computers were far more widely deployed even in the early 1980s and could not be developed, produced, and controlled in the same way as encryption systems. A separate organization capable of working with industry, instead of directing it through procurement contracts, was needed."

The DOD Computer Security Evaluation Center name was changed, first to the "DOD Computer Security Center" and later to the National Computer Security Center.