This article is from the source 'nytimes' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/31/world/vice-admiral-to-be-named-nsa-director.html

The article has changed 9 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 2 Version 3
Vice Admiral to Be Named N.S.A. Director Obama Picks A Cyber Expert To Lead N.S.A.
(about 2 hours later)
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration announced Thursday that it would nominate Vice Adm. Michael S. Rogers to become the new director of the National Security Agency and the commander of the new Pentagon unit that directs the country’s offensive cyberoperations, according to senior administration officials. WASHINGTON — In nominating Vice Adm. Michael S. Rogers as the new director of the National Security Agency on Thursday, President Obama chose a recognized expert in the new art of designing cyberweapons, but someone with no public track record in addressing the kinds of privacy concerns that have put the agency under a harsh spotlight.
Admiral Rogers, a cryptologist by training who has quietly risen to the top of naval intelligence operations, would become the public face of the N.S.A. at a moment that it is caught in the cross hairs of the roiling debate about whether its collection of information about American citizens and foreign leaders has exceeded legal constraints and common sense. Mr. Obama’s decision to pick a military officer — rather than someone versed in the privacy issues raised by the N.S.A.’s bulk collection of “metadata” about the phone calls, emails and online searches of ordinary Americans — was made several weeks ago, when he rejected the advice of his own advisory panel that recommended that the N.S.A. and the United States Cyber Command have separate leaders. By law the command, the Pentagon’s 4-year-old cyberwarfare organization, must be headed by a military officer.
Admiral Rogers would succeed General Keith B. Alexander, who has served as N.S.A. director for nearly nine years and was the first to direct both the civilian spy agency and its military partner, the four-year-old United States Cyber Command. The result is that Admiral Rogers, now the head of Fleet Cyber Command, the Navy’s fast-growing cyberunit, will find himself in the public cross hairs in a way he has never been during a 33-year military career. Starting with his confirmation hearings, expected to begin as soon as next month, the admiral will be pressed on how he would implement a series of reforms that Mr. Obama announced two weeks ago.
Since General Alexander announced his plans to retire, Admiral Rogers has been viewed as the leading candidate to succeed him. But Admiral Rogers would come to the job with far more experience in code-breaking and the design of America’s new arsenal of cyberweapons than he would in dealing with the civil liberties issues that have engulfed the N.S.A. But many of the biggest issues, including who will hold the vast database of phone call information that the N.S.A. searches as it seeks potential terrorists or nuclear proliferators, remain undecided. And Mr. Obama has deferred decisions on recommendations, also from advisers, that the N.S.A. stop its efforts to weaken commercial encryption and limit its activities to exploiting weaknesses in commonly available software to design cyberweapons.
The admiral’s nomination will have to be confirmed by the Senate, and the hearings could well become enmeshed in questions over the future of the N.S.A. and its bulk data collection programs. “Mike’s now flying right into the hornet’s nest of the stuff the president didn’t decide,” said one senior adviser to the president. “And it’s all going to play out in public.”
A presidential advisory panel recommended in December that President Obama split the jobs of N.S.A. director and head of the Cyber Command, which would have separated the civilian surveillance and code-breaking tasks from the development of cyberweapons and the defense of military networks. It already has: The N.S.A.’s programs have been flayed by civil libertarians, sharply criticized by Silicon Valley companies that say their business is being undercut, and denounced by American allies who have been routinely spied on.
But Mr. Obama rejected that advice before the panel issued its report, concluding that the surveillance and cyberwar functions were so interrelated that separating the jobs would set the United States back in what has become a global arms race to develop cyberweapons. At the same time that it made its widely expected nomination of Admiral Rogers, the administration announced its choice for deputy director of the agency: Rick Ledgett, the N.S.A. official who has been heading the task force assessing the damage done by the revelations of Edward J. Snowden, the former agency contractor. It will clearly be Mr. Ledgett’s job to implement a series of internal changes designed to prevent a repeat of what officials have called the biggest leak of secret data in American history and to deal with its continuing effects.
The administration also intends to nominate Rick Ledgett to serve as deputy director of the N.S.A. Mr. Ledgett leads the agency’s Media Leaks Task Force, which has been assessing the damage done by Edward J. Snowden, the former agency contractor who obtained more than a million documents as a systems administrator in Hawaii. Mr. Ledgett generated headlines weeks ago when, in an interview on the CBS News program “60 Minutes,” he said “it’s worth having a conversation” about giving Mr. Snowden amnesty from prosecution in return for a full accounting of what he took from the N.S.A.’s Hawaii office, and where the remaining, unpublished, data is.
Mr. Ledgett, in an interview on the CBS News program “60 Minutes,” said that “it’s worth having a conversation” about granting Mr. Snowden amnesty from prosecution in return for a full accounting of what he took and where the remaining unpublished data is. The White House immediately rejected the idea of an amnesty, but Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said recently that he would be open to talking about some kind of deal for Mr. Snowden if he returned from Russia.
“I would need assurances that the remainder of the data could be secured, and my bar for those assurances would be very high,” Mr. Ledgett said. Admiral Rogers will succeed Gen. Keith B. Alexander, who has served as N.S.A. director for nearly nine years and was the first to direct both the civilian spy agency and the Cyber Command. He announced last year that he would retire in March. Since then Admiral Rogers has been considered the most likely successor, because of his experience in code-breaking — the reason the N.S.A. was created by President Harry Truman six decades ago — and his understanding of the design of America’s new arsenal of cyberweapons.
The White House immediately rejected the idea of an amnesty, but Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said recently that he would be open to talking about a plea bargain that gave Mr. Snowden a reduced sentence or reduced charges if he returned from Russia, where he is living in temporary asylum. Mr. Obama interviewed the admiral for the job last week, though the president left it to Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, traveling in Poland on Thursday, to announce the appointment. Mr. Hagel pointed to the challenges the new director will face in a statement, saying “Vice Admiral Rogers would bring extraordinary and unique qualifications to this position as the agency continues its vital mission and implements President Obama’s reforms.”
In a statement released Thursday afternoon, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel alluded to the challenges Admiral Rogers will face. “Vice Admiral Rogers would bring extraordinary and unique qualifications to this position as the agency continues its vital mission and implements President Obama’s reforms,” Mr. Hagel said from Poland, where he is traveling. “I am also confident that Admiral Rogers has the wisdom to help balance the demands of security, privacy and liberty in our digital age.” “I am also confident that Admiral Rogers has the wisdom to help balance the demands of security, privacy and liberty in our digital age,” Mr. Hagel said.
Mr. Obama interviewed Admiral Rogers for the job recently, and the appeal of his background was obvious: A president who has embraced the use of cyberweapons, and warned of the threat of cyberattacks on the United States, saw in the admiral a man who is described by his Navy peers as a master of a technology that is as critical to defending its fleet today as radar was when it was developed 70 years ago. A statement issued minutes later by the director of national intelligence, James R. Clapper Jr., made no reference to proposed reforms at the N.S.A. or the need to conduct the kind of balancing Mr. Hagel referred to — a reflection, perhaps, of the arguments Mr. Clapper has made internally that many of the proposals undercut the N.S.A.’s ability to protect the country.
Admiral Rogers began his career not in intelligence or electronics, but in traditional surface warfare. He was commissioned via the Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps after graduating from Auburn University in 1981, and worked in combat naval gunfire support, serving in operations off Grenada, Beirut and El Salvador. Admiral Rogers’ appointment will clearly be welcomed inside the military intelligence community, where he is regarded as a trusted insider. He began his career not in intelligence or electronics, but in traditional surface warfare. He was commissioned via the Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps after graduating from Auburn in 1981, and worked in combat naval gunfire support, serving in operations off Grenada, Beirut and El Salvador.
But in 1986, after five years in the service, he made a leap that prepared him for the post he is now entering: He transferred to cryptology, and trained in both electronic and information warfare. A number of assignments to various warships and carrier strike groups followed, as well as duty supporting United States and NATO missions in the Balkans and for the war in Afghanistan. But in 1986, after five years in the service, he made a leap that prepared him for the post he is now likely to take up: He began specializing in cryptology, and trained in both electronic and information warfare. A number of assignments to various warships and carrier strike groups followed, taking him to United States and NATO missions in the Balkans and in Afghanistan.
Eleven years ago, as the United States was invading Iraq, he joined the military’s prestigious Joint Staff, which works for the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He specialized in computer network attack — what today is called cyberwar — and subsequently served in senior staff positions to the Joint Staff’s director and to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs. Eleven years ago, as the United States was invading Iraq, he joined the military’s prestigious Joint Staff, which works for the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He specialized in computer network attacks — what today is called cyberwar — and subsequently served in a series of senior staff positions that put him in the midst of the issues facing the Joint Chiefs.
In 2007, he became director of intelligence for the military’s Pacific Command, where China and its tremendous cybersurveillance abilities are a priority. Two years later he became director of intelligence for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and two years ago he was named commander of the Fleet Cyber Command, created a year before with responsibilities for all of the Navy’s cyberwarfare efforts. It is the Navy’s component of the United States Cyber Command, which he will lead if confirmed. In 2007, he moved to become director of intelligence for the military’s Pacific Command, where China, and its tremendous cybersurveillance abilities, are a priority. Two years later he became director of intelligence for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and then was named commander of the Fleet Cyber Command, with responsibility for all of the Navy’s cyberwarfare efforts.
“I know of no other naval officer as deft as he in synthesizing seemingly disparate bits of information into a cohesive whole,” said a senior military officer, who would not speak on the record about a pending nomination. “He connects dots. Some people see the details and can describe them for you. Rogers sees the details and can tell you a story.”
The White House would not specifically say what part of Admiral Rogers’ background appealed to Mr. Obama, but his experience in cyberwarfare was undoubtedly a major element, according to people who have dealt with both the president and his nominee. From his first days in office, Mr. Obama was secretly immersed in America’s biggest offensive cyberattack mission, a program named “Olympic Games” that was aimed at Iran’s nuclear infrastructure.
It is unclear if Admiral Rogers was involved in any of that operation at the time. But if he is confirmed by the Senate, the country’s growing arsenal of cyberweapons will be under his command.