The director of the US Homeland Security's National Cybersecurity Center, Rod Beckstrom resigned on Friday, because of what he described "a power grab by the National Security Agency". Beckstrom, in his resignation letter, harshly criticized NSA for playing undue role in countering threats to the nation's computer systems.

In his bold letter to Janet Napolitano, the secretary of the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Beckstrom complained about the excessive role that NSA is playing to control and protect the nation's vast computer networks and systems. In the letter, he stated that NSA currently dominates most national cyber efforts, and asked the DHS secretary, a big question whether the NSA should control cyber efforts.

He wrote that NSA's role in protecting domestic computer networks is debatable, particularly because privacy and civil liberties groups oppose giving such control to U. S. spy agencies. He also brought to the DHS secretary's attention that the National Cybersecurity Center was running short of money.

Confirming the resignation of Beckstrom, a Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman, Amy Kudwa said, "He has tendered his resignation."

In his resignation letter published by the Wall Street Journal, Beckstrom wrote, "It was a bad strategy to have the National Security Agency, which is part of the Department of Defense, play a major role in cybersecurity." He wrote, "While acknowledging the critical importance of NSA to our intelligence efforts, I believe this is a bad strategy on multiple grounds."

He also wrote that "NSA effectively controls DHS cyber efforts through detailees, technology insertions," and proposed moving some functions to the agency's Fort Meade, Maryland, headquarters.

Beckstrom's resignation has come at the time when Obama administration is conducting a 60-day review to determine whether the cybersecurity program started by Bush last year to protect government networks is working well.

In a statement, DHS stated that "it has a strong relationship with the NSA and continues to work closely with all of its partners to protect the country's cyber networks". DHS stated that Beckstrom's resignation will be effective from March 13.

Beckstrom, the former Silicon Valley entrepreneur, was picked for the job on March 20, 2008. He co-founded CATS Software, derivatives and risk management Software Company, and co-founded Twiki. net, a company that supports open-source wikis.