The NSA are overtly, by a central part of their official mission, black hats, not white hats.
If US federal defensive cybersecurity (especially on cryptographic matters) is going to have credibility in its recommendations outside of the US government, especially given the long history of the NSA compromising defensive recommendations in service of its offensive mission, it needs to be both visibly and effectively distanced from the signals intelligence mission of NSA/CSS.
If US federal defensive cybersecurity (especially on cryptographic matters) is going to have credibility in its recommendations outside of the US government, especially given the long history of the NSA compromising defensive recommendations in service of its offensive mission, it needs to be both visibly and effectively distanced from the signals intelligence mission of NSA/CSS.