Washington is reorganizing for cyber conflict in real time. In June, a proposal to create a separate U.S. Cyber Force was defeated 14-13 in the Senate Armed Services Committee. Now the National Security Agency is preparing what news reports describe as one of its most significant internal reorganizations in a decade, with five mission centers focused on China, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, combat support, and global intelligence. 

Those moves address real military and intelligence problems. President Donald Trump’s “Cyber Strategy for America” also calls for an unprecedented, coordinated, and sustained government effort and says private-sector partners must be able to respond and recover quickly. But one question remains unusually hard to assign: Who is accountable for keeping the civilian state functioning when a sustained cyber conflict crosses agencies, companies, sectors, and jurisdictions at once?