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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."

14 of 138 comments (clear)

  1. rebranded? by Infestedkudzu · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Is this what companies do when their product turns out to have lead paint in it or something.

    1. Re:rebranded? by edibobb · · Score: 5, Insightful

      This started long before Obama. The big data collection was almost inevitable because it became possible, economical, and easy to justify in the name of "national security." As long as they could keep it secret with virtually unlimited funding, it would keep growing regardless of who controlled the White House, Congress, or the Supreme Court.

    2. Re:rebranded? by Jeremiah+Cornelius · · Score: 5, Interesting

      NSA Reputation Is Dirt

      Date: Tue, 21 Jan 2014 18:30:39 -0500

      From: William Allen Simpson
      <william.allen.simpson[at]gmail.com>

      To: Jerry Leichter <leichter[at]lrw.com>, John Kelsey
      <crypto.jmk[at]gmail.com>

      Subject: Re: [Cryptography] RSA is dead.

      I'm surprised at the sudden interest in my month old December 23 post.

      On 1/20/14 2:39 PM, Jerry Leichter wrote:

      On Jan 20, 2014, at 12:49 PM, John Kelsey <crypto.jmk[at]gmail.com>
      wrote:

      Perhaps this is the result of living in a government bubble for awhile, but
      I certainly saw and heard a lot of the bigger community who thought NSA's
      involvement in domestic crypto standards and companies was intended to improve
      security. That's why NSA people were and are openly members of a bunch of
      standards committees, why people invited NSA guys to give talks and take
      part in competitions, why people were using stuff like SE Linux. People have
      been using DSA, the NIST curves, SHA1, and SHA2 for many years, believing
      them secure--because the assumption was that NSA wasn't putting backdoored
      stuff out there.

      Absolutely. And it's not just a matter of living inside the government bubble.

      NSA has had a surprisingly good reputation pretty much until Snodownia. Before
      their involvement with DES, no one really knew anything about them - but
      every interaction I've ever heard of with NSA people left the impression
      that they were extremely bright and extremely competent. (A friend who, many
      years ago interviewed with both CIA and NSA, thought the interviewers for
      the former were a bunch of bumbling idiots, while he was very impressed with
      the latter. He never took a govern

      --
      "Flyin' in just a sweet place,
      Never been known to fail..."
    3. Re:rebranded? by TheRaven64 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      And this post highlights exactly why: when a trend that's been going on for decades across administrations from both major parties continues (or, worse, accelerates slightly), what happens? Half of Americans loudly blame the current incumbent, causing the other half to reflexively defend whatever this trend is.

      Hint: Government is not like sports. Don't mindlessly support the Red Team or the Blue Team, they're supposed to stand for something.

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
  2. Can you spy? by ackthpt · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Yes"

    "Can you spy a lot?"

    "Yes"

    "You're hired."

    new hiring practice at the NSA

    --

    A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
    1. Re:Can you spy? by s.petry · · Score: 4, Insightful

      That's the old hiring practice. The new practice adds the additional question "Are you willing to spy a lot on the American people?"

      Can you spy on the American People and play dumb, convincingly before Congress? (They authorized all this but now clamber over each other claiming shock and dismay while attempting to reach for the highest indignation.)

      No they didn't. Americans never voted on this crap. Hell, Congress had no time to read the Patriot act until after the vote either. After the fact we all heard about how the terrorist would kill all of our children if we repealed this law instead of having any rational debate.

      Now you could claim that American's have been complacent and let things happen, that much I would agree with. This would also explain some of their shock and dismay as they see what the complacency has turned into.

      Even that is questionable. One of Obama's Hope and Change speeches claimed that the Patriot act had to go, and that Government needed to be more transparent.

      --

      -The wise argue that there are few absolutes, the fool argues that there are no probabilities.

  3. NSA spied on Copenhagen climate summit .. by DTentilhao · · Score: 5, Informative

    "Developing countries have reacted angrily to revelations that the United States spied on other governments at the Copenhagen climate summit in 2009."

    "Documents leaked by Edward Snowden show how the US National Security Agency (NSA) monitored communication between key countries before and during the conference to give their negotiators advance information about other positions at the high-profile meeting where world leaders including Barack Obama, Gordon Brown and Angela Merkel failed to agree to a strong deal on climate change." link

  4. Re:Admiral now in charge of the NSA: What effect? by rudy_wayne · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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.

    Which is exactly why they need to stop putting military people in these positions.

    Yes civilians can do that stuff too, but at least there's a chance, however small, that things might change. Putting another Admiral or General in charge guarantees that nothing will change.

  5. Is it just me... by cuncator · · Score: 4, Interesting

    ... or is anyone else disturbed by the number of military personnel being appointed to civilian posts in the US government recently?

    At what point do we just give up and announce that we're ruled by a junta already?

  6. Re:The only acceptable solution... by Zynder · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Dude, if they haven't dismantled the TSA, which visibly annoys people day in and day out, by now what even gave you a glimmer of hope it would happen this time? There have been so many opportunities to break up the TSA, repeal the Patriot Act, and all of the other nonsense that's been going but it seems the only person who gave a shit all of these years was Ron Paul. You see how well that went over. The only way you'll see the NSA or TSA dismantled will be when it becomes profitable for those who pay Congress' bills.

  7. Re:Senate Filibuster Rules by Shakrai · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The opposition had been using the filibuster against appointments far too frequently

    Fixed it for you. Hint: Democrats did the same thing.

    Worry not, they'll reap what they've sowed sooner or later, when the GOP controls the Senate and White House. Politics is cyclical.

    --
    I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
    We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
  8. Well, duh by arielCo · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The NSA's job is to spy, so it makes sense to hire SIGINT people. The recent problem is who they've been spying on.

    --
    This post contains no rudeness or derision of any kind. All arguments are friendly. Terms and exclusions may apply.
  9. Worse than re-branding ... by Taco+Cowboy · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It doesn't really matter when the thing started because agencies that ignore the existence of the Constitutions are malicious cancers that can one day kill the nation.

    It is up to the President of the United States to SHUT DOWN the offending agency (and / or agencies) in order to stem the malicious progression of these dangerous agencies.

    The fact that Obama refuses to shut it down says a lot about the lack of integrity of the individual. As the POTUS he has to answer not only to his own office, but also to the hundreds of millions of the Citizens of the United States of America - and in this role, Obama has failed his job as the POTUS, the oval office - the satus of which the POTUS represents, and, the ***NATION*** !

    --
    Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
  10. Re:Senate Filibuster Rules by TheNastyInThePasty · · Score: 4, Informative

    That's a nice false equivalence you've got there. Too bad you miss the point. Almost half of all of the nominee filibusters in the entire history of this country have been by this Republican party during this president's time in office.

    The Democrats have never even done close to the same thing.

    --
    The best thing about UDP jokes is I don't care if you get them or not