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Obama Nominates Vice Admiral Michael Rogers New NSA Chief

wiredmikey writes "President Barack Obama has nominated a US Navy officer, Vice Admiral Michael Rogers, to take over as head of the embattled National Security Agency, the Pentagon said Thursday. Rogers, 53, would take the helm at a fraught moment for the spy agency, which is under unprecedented pressure after leaks from ex-intelligence contractor Edward Snowden revealed the extent of its electronic spying. If confirmed by lawmakers, Rogers would also take over as head of the military's cyber warfare command. Rogers, who trained as an intelligence cryptologist, would succeed General Keith Alexander, who has served in the top job since 2005. He currently heads the US Fleet Cyber Command, overseeing the navy's cyber warfare specialists, and over a 30-year career has worked in cryptology and eavesdropping, or 'signals intelligence.' His confirmation hearings in the Senate are likely to be dominated by the ongoing debate about the NSA's espionage, and whether its sifting through Internet traffic and phone records violates privacy rights and democratic values."

4 of 138 comments (clear)

  1. Re:rebranded? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    Yes. America isn't called America anymore, it's Obamanation.

  2. Admiral now in charge of the NSA: What effect? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

    The business of Admirals is to kill people and destroy their property. An Admiral won't mind smaller violence like breaking constitutional law, lying to the public, and spending taxpayer dollars on projects to make money for a few.

  3. Re:rebranded? by Jeremiah+Cornelius · · Score: -1, Troll

    Yes. But what Bommy wants, Bommy GETS!

    --
    "Flyin' in just a sweet place,
    Never been known to fail..."
  4. Re:The only acceptable solution... by cold+fjord · · Score: -1, Troll

    If you bother to follow the news, you know that the US military saw both its budget and headcount greatly decrease in the 1990s, increase in the 2000s, and it is currently set to significantly decrease again over the next decade.

    Budget plan would slash Army by 100,000 soldiers

    Since those staffing level changes are a fact, and the changes in payrolls and procurement are as well, it seems pretty clear that your original premise is flawed. The NSA and TSA continue to exist at current levels because they serve a useful purpose. If they didn't they would almost certainly be cut as well. At least in the case of the NSA that seems pretty unlikely it will be significantly cut any time soon since the importance of intelligence information is increasing, and the medium for much of the information is going to be communications and signals intelligence.

    The Patriot Act keeps being reauthorized since the reason it was passed hasn't gone away. It was known at the start of this that it would likely be decades before it did. You can thank the Islamist extremists.

    --
    much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell