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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