Who Wants To Run The NSA Now?

Whilst renegade NSA employee Edward Snowden was warmly applauded at his virtual appearance by covert video-link from an unknown location to an audience at the Texas SXSW media & technology conference, the designated new NSA Director, Admiral Michael Rogers, strapped in for a bumpy ride at US Senate confirmation hearings. http://ow.ly/ut0DV

Presently in charge of US Navy Cyber Command, Rogers faces a critical audience. As future Head of the Pentagon combined services Cyber Command as well as the NSA he will be not be meeting the compliant US Senate Intelligence Committee but the powerful Armed Services Committee, which includes some of the NSA's strongest elected critics. The admiral may find this a difficult challenge.

Major US technology & telecoms companies have also criticized the size and scope of surveillance which has emerged since the departure of the last NSA Director after Snowden's disclosures. Like Microsoft , many US technology firms now offer 'non-US' offshore cloud computing services to appeal to corporate customers apprehensive of NSA intrusion. http://ow.ly/ut3DG

Like Snowden, they may start demanding for more transparency and accountability from the NSA and other security agencies.