Shaken NSA Grapples With an Overhaul

[InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews org>]

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB20001424052702304607104579214673029584730

By SIOBHAN GORMAN
The Wall Street Journal
Nov. 25, 2013

WASHINGTON -- Shortly after former government contractor Edward Snowden 
revealed himself in June as the source of leaked National Security Agency 
documents, the agency's director, Gen. Keith Alexander, offered to resign, 
according to a senior U.S. official.

The offer, which hasn't previously been reported, was declined by the 
Obama administration. But it shows the degree to which Mr. Snowden's 
revelations have shaken the NSA's foundations—unlike any event in its 
six-decade history, including the blowback against domestic spying in the 
1970s.

The post-Snowden era has forced a major re-evaluation of NSA operations by 
the administration and on Capitol Hill, and the review is likely to alter 
the agency's rules of the road. "It was cataclysmic," Richard Ledgett, who 
heads a special NSA Snowden response team, said of the disclosures. "This 
is the hardest problem we've had to face in 62 years of existence."

Broad new controls, though, run the risk of overcorrecting, leaving the 
agency unable to respond to a future crisis, critics of the expected 
changes warn.

When the leaks began, some top administration officials found their 
confidence in Gen. Alexander shaken because he presided over a grave 
security lapse, a former senior defense official said. But the officials 
also didn't think his resignation would solve the security problem and 
were concerned that letting him leave would wrongly hand Mr. Snowden a 
win, the former defense official said.

[...]

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