The real purpose of this order is probably because Executive Order 12472 (which established the National Communication System) has become quite out of date, particularly because that EO detailed telephone communications while this one details more general cyber-security issues.

The NCS was a department that was absorbed into the DHS and this EO effectively puts the NCS to an end.

See more:

http://www.dhs.gov/office-cybersecurity-and-communications

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Cyber_Security_Divisio...

This EO is simply a formality, rather than some dangerous encroachment or commandeering of the internet's infrastructure.

Can the DHS even handle setting up and overseeing such a system? That is what scares me. This is just one big juicy target.

It's a lot more complicated than anybody can possibly imagine, and it's probably why the Obama administration has given NSA's General Alexander so much backing in recent spying revelations.

In addition to the spying revelations, there has been concerns about the US Government's ability to manage and maintain confidentiality, integrity, and accessibility of critical communications in case of major and sustained attacks on its communications infrastructure.

Note this was signed in 2012, July 6th.

Not much coverage before: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/07/06/execut...

I predict the first instance this privilege is invoked that mesh networks and apps developed around them will rise in popularity.

The reason for this executive order is probably that government communications is increasingly occurring on the public internet, and, just like how many hosting services (be it AWS, Linode, or otherwise) provide dedicated communications links between data-centers, the US Government will probably be establishing its own fiber infrastructure.

This is probably a stop-gap before wiring up the entirety of the US mainland with dedicated fiber connections, and hopefully the USG will release their clutches from the internet's core infrastructure afterwards.

No doubt. But we are still talking about a handful of people at most.

How many geeks have ownership of the roof of a tall building ?

Many geeks have access to high places. They don't have to own them or own them outright. Also, many average people could be trivially sold on contributing to interconnecting for shared benefits: fast, cheap internet, vast amounts of locally cached media, LAN games, and access to redundant connectivity. The way things are going with mobile ad-hoc networking, though, a lot of these human-speed agreements will become less of a requirement. Maybe a friend allowing you in to a trust network and the provision of connectivity or other resources will likely suffice for automated acceptance. (Yeah, spam, freeload, etc. But these are ~solveable by proxy-penalizing whoever lets such nodes in.) Some such communities might also want to run shared surveillance of their geographic perimiters (or local wildlife!).