Former NSA Chief Keith Alexander Accused of Profiting From Corporate Espionage
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Accused of Profiting From Corporate Espionage
Disclosing or misusing classified information for profit is, as Mr. Alexander well knows, a felony. I question how Mr. Alexander can provide any of the services he is offering unless he discloses or misuses classified information, including extremely sensitive sources and methods. Without the classified information that he acquired in his former position, he literally would have nothing to offer you.
Alexander maintains that he has spoken with his own attorneys as well as lawyers at the NSA to ensure that his patents don’t come too close to work he did while heading the body. And government employees can own patents, apparently, as long as they aren’t related to the work they were employed to do, and if they were invented on their own time.
But as Harris notes, “Alexander started his company almost immediately after stepping down from the NSA. As for how much the highly classified knowledge in his head influenced his latest creation, only Alexander knows.”
We may soon find out just how much it’s worth to be the guy who once ran America’s mega-security operation—the NSA is being sued by journalist Jason Leopold for refusing to give him access to Alexander’s financial disclosure records. Records that are publicly available.
When Keith Alexander, the director of the National Security Agency and head of the U.S. Cyber Command, announced he was retiring in 2013 and almost immediately added that he was going into cybersecurity consulting, no one was particularly shocked. Exiting administration officials moving to the private sector and monetizing the connections and knowledge they gained during their government days is unsavory, perhaps, but far from unusual. Eyes did water at the amount Alexander was purported to be asking for his advice, though—$1 million per month.
So, what does $1 million get you? Well, it’s still not entirely clear. In a recent interview with Foreign Policy’s Shane Harris, Alexander said the company he co-founded, IronNet Cybersecurity Inc.,
What’s sure to raise eyebrows even higher is Alexander’s announcement that he’ll be filing at least nine patents for this technology. Patents that you might presume were invented off the back of the intimate knowledge of cyber-attacks and potential cyber-threats that Alexander was exposed to during his almost nine years as director of the NSA. When asked why he didn’t implement this super-special hacker-catching method when running what is likely the world’s largest cyber-security body, Alexander told Harris that the key “aha” moment came from one of his new, unnamed business partners.
Back when Bloomberg announced that Alexander was asking a cool $1 million per month (later, the amount was said to drop to $600,000) to help banks and other firms keep their data safe, concerns were raised that the former director was capitalizing off his intimacy with classified information. At the time, Rep. Alan Grayson wrote a scathing letter to the Financial Services Roundtable and other bodies to whom Alexander was said to have offered his services, asking them to disclose their negotiations so that Congress could consider whether the former director was selling classified military and cybersecurity secrets:
Conor Friedersdorf argues in the Atlantic, unless President Obama himself considers that they would reveal information that would compromise the national interest.
Despite the legal and moral murkiness of Alexander’s quick dive into the world of private practice and pricy retainers, with barely a breath between that and his former government duties, employing the man who was in charge of the United States’ digital defenses is a chance the big banks, and other companies who have sensitive data to lose, have found hard to pass up. The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, a Wall Street trade group, for example, has retained Alexander to play a key role in a proposed “government-industry cyber war council,” the Washington Post and Bloomberg reported. Alexander also apparently roped in a fellow traveler on the government-to-consulting merry go round, Michael Chertoff, the former U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security, to help with the effort.
Perhaps we shouldn’t be so quick to judge Alexander’s steep fee. After all, while at the NSA, Alexander spent many long years bulk collecting phone and email records, now said to have “had no discernible impact on preventing acts of terrorism.” Should we begrudge this man's right to earn a dollar now that he’s out? Or $1 million of them?
Why Is the NSA Hiding Keith Alexander's Financial Disclosures?
As the former intelligence chief goes corporate, a journalist is suing to see what he earned outside his official duties.
Only President Obama Can Suppress The Information
When Keith Alexander stepped down as head of the NSA, he raised eyebrows "pitching his services for as much as $1 million a month" as a consultant for companies that would benefit tremendously from classified information that he possesses. At best, he'd be monetizing expertise gained on the public dime to enrich himself.
Representative Alan Grayson, a Florida Democrat, expressed his worries in a letter. "I am writing with concerns about the potential disclosure of classified information by former National Security Agency Director Keith Alexander,” he wrote. “Disclosing or misusing classified information for profit is, as Mr. Alexander well knows, a felony. I question how Mr. Alexander can provide any of the services he is offering unless he discloses or misuses classified information, including extremely sensitive sources and methods. Without the classified information that he acquired in his former position, he literally would have nothing to offer to you.”
Investigative journalist Jason Leopold, who specializes in Freedom of Information Act requests, decided to look more closely at Alexander's behavior. For decades, American officials have been compelled to file paperwork regarding their income and investments. The idea is to lay bare all financial conflicts of interest, making corruption less attractive and more likely to be caught.
But the NSA turned down Leopold's request. In a lawsuit seeking to compel the release of the Alexander documents, Leopold argues that they're being withheld unlawfully. Under the Ethics in Government Act of 1978, the NSA has "a mandatory, non-discretionary duty to produce the requested records," his complaint states.
As a matter of law, Leopold is, in fact, entitled to Alexander's financial disclosure forms unless one individual, the president of the United States, decides to suppress them. The law articulates this lone exception as follows:
... this section does not require public availability of a report filed by any individual in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the Central Intelligence Agency, the Defense Intelligence Agency, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, or the National Security Agency, or any individual engaged in intelligence activities in any agency of the United States, if the President finds or has found that, due to the nature of the office or position occupied by such individual, public disclosure of such report would, by revealing the identity of the individual or other sensitive information, compromise the national interest of the United States ...
There is good reason for the exception. If I could request the financial disclosure forms of every CIA agent, for example, maintaining cover would be impossible. In Alexander's case, however, "revealing the identity of the individual" is not an issue. And as Leopold states in a complaint letter, "The letter denying Mr. Leopold’s request for financial disclosure statements did not indicate that the President had in fact made a finding that, due to the nature of the office or position of the Director of the National Security Agency, the identity of the individual or other sensitive information, compromise the national interest of the United States.
Instead, the letter simply cites the exemption provision of the statute. It is not the case, however, that 5 USC app. § 105(a)(1) automatically exempts every employee of the NSA from the public disclosure requirement, and hundreds of NSA employees annually file publicly available financial disclosure forms. Absent evidence of a waiver, public disclosure is required."
The matter thus comes down to Obama's interpretation of a single clause.
The American people are entitled to see Alexander's financial conflicts of interest unless Obama himself declares that revealing them would somehow "compromise the national interest of the United States." Would Obama do so, despite pledges to run the most transparent administration in history? Sadly, those pledges stopped being credible a long time ago.
It is nevertheless worth noting what Obama would be saying if he helps suppress Alexander's paperwork: that the national interest would be more imperiled by the public knowing how an extremely powerful government official earned money outside of his official duties than by that very powerful man, with a head full of classified information, selling his services to the highest bidder without meaningful public scrutiny.
Obama ought to face tremendous pressure to let the records be revealed, particularly given the suspicion-raising story Alexander is telling about his business plans.
At the Aspen Ideas Festival, I questioned Michael Hayden, former head of the CIA and NSA, about the eye-popping sums Alexander was reportedly seeking from private industry:
At the Aspen Ideas Festival, I questioned Michael Hayden, former head of the CIA and NSA, about the eye-popping sums Alexander was reportedly seeking from private industry:
Hayden agreed that, in theory, one might legitimately worry about that, but quickly assured me that as someone who knows Alexander he can vouch for his character, even if he didn't expect a journalist who didn't know him to treat that as persuasive. He also said that he purposely refrains from getting classified updates from national-security agencies while working in private industry, and that something he knows about the NSA, but that I don't, would assuage some of my concerns.
Days later, Bloomberg News reported that the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association is proposing "a government-industry cyber war council," and that "Sifma has retained former NSA director Keith Alexander to 'facilitate' the joint effort with the government. Alexander, in turn, has brought in Michael Chertoff, the former U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security, and his firm, Chertoff Group."
Fancy that.
Former NSA Chief Makes Up To $1 Million A Month Selling Cybersecurity Services
Gen. Keith Alexander stepped down from the NSA after the Snowden leaks, now he's back with a new security firm related to his government work
General Keith Alexander was in charge of the National Security Agency when all hell broke loose and former security contractor Edward Snowden leaked documents showing the organization was spying far beyond the extent to which most people were aware (or comfortable with). But he's not letting that episode stop him from launching what looks to be an exceptionally lucrative private career selling...you guessed it, cybersecurity software.
As Bloomberg first reported last week, Alexander has spent the last few months since his retirement as NSA head in March giving paid talks on cybersecurity to banks and other large financial institutions. Bloomberg also noted that Alexander has charged up to $1 million a month for his services, and even co-founded his own private security firm, IronNet Cybersecurity, Inc. In a more recent interview with Foreign Policy, Alexander admitted that his firm has developed "unique" technology for detecting and fighting so-called "advanced persistent threats" — cyberattacks that can extend for months or years at a time without being noticed, and are directed against specific targets like big companies or governments.
Beyond the somewhat uncomfortable optics created by America's leading spymaster turning his skill-set to the private security sector, there are other problems with Alexander's new job. As Foreign Policy points out, the former NSA chief plans to file patents on his firm's technology, patents that are "directly related to the job he had in government." In other words, Alexander stands to profit directly off of his taxpayer-funded experience, and may do so with a competitive advantage over other competing private firms. Alexander claimed the technology he would be patenting was distinct enough from his work at the head of the NSA, but that excuse is not likely to assuage rival cybersecurity firms, nor those concerned with the revolving door between government and related private industries.
Monty Henry, Owner
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* Online Privacy Tools and Tips
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