White House Refused NSA Director's Offer to Resign

What's This?

Kevin Collier for The Daily Dot 2013-11-26 00:32:44 UTC

The National Security Agency was rocked harder by former contractor Edward Snowden's leaks than previously realized.

Its director, Gen. Keith Alexander, initially offered to resign, a government official has told The Wall Street Journal .

In June, Snowden collected a massive number of agency documents, fled the country and passed them to a handful of journalists. His leaks, trickled out of a handful of news agencies, have revealed the NSA has a vast network of spying power, including the ability to track much of the Internet, many of the world's phone records, and that the agency has partnerships with similar spy organizations around the world.

Snowden's actions clearly took the agency by surprise, and the NSA immediately took steps to prevent similar actions from other employees. But though the intelligence community wasted no time in condemning Snowden and his actions, it didn't show itself as so thoroughly damaged as to propose a full leadership change.

Government sources told the Journal that the White House's decision to decline Alexander's resignation came in part because it would appear to validate Snowden's decision and wouldn't actually aid the agency. Some in Obama's administration did find their faith in Alexander shaken, though.

When contacted by the Daily Dot, the NSA refused to confirm or deny that Alexander had offered his immediate resignation.

Alexander is already slated to retire in either March or April of 2014, an announcement made before Snowden's leaks.

Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.

Image: Win McNamee/Getty Images

• Sherlock fans, rejoice! John Watson's blog is back


• Watch Seinfeld2000's bizarre music video for Arcade Fire


• News anchor has had it up to here with your snow-covered patio photos


• Shouldn't shopping for healthcare be as easy as shopping for porn?

This article originally published at The Daily Dot here

Topics: edward snowden, keith alexander, National Security Agency, NSA, Politics, united states, U.S., US Government, US & World, White House

The Daily Dot is a Mashable publishing partner that reports on the most important and relevant topics from within, applying tried-and-true principles drawn from community journalism to the growing cultures of the Internet. This article is reprinted with the publisher's permission.