The director of the embattled National Security Agency, Gen. Keith Alexander, is reportedly seeking new powers for surveillance activities on Wall Street to secure the US financial industry.
“That’s where we’re going to end up at some point,” Alexander said in Washington on Tuesday, adding that using the financial services sector as an example.
“You have to have the rules set up so you can defend Wall Street,” he was quoted as saying by The Foreign Policy.
Alexander noted that the NSA would be able to spot “a cyberpacket that’s about to destroy Wall Street.”
He said the agency would be getting real-time information from the banks themselves as well as from the NSA’s traditional channels of intelligence to take action before a cyberattack caused major damage.
Commenting on the government shutdown, the general said it is hurting morale among members of the US intelligence community, adding that members of the intelligence community have been allowed back to work, but many are still furloughed.
œWe™re telling them, ˜Stay at home.™ How do you get good talent to the government when we treat them like that?” he said.
The head of US Cyber Command is still worried that the shutdown furloughs are sending the wrong message.
œSome young folks you bring on, you tell them I can™t pay you for the week you were on furlough,” he said. œWe™re making it hard for them to stay in government, and that™s wrong.”
Last month, Gen. Alexander defended his agency in the face of the scandal for collecting Americans™ phone records.
The data collection œprovides us the speed and agility in crises, like the Boston Marathon tragedy in April and the threats this summer,” he said.
The spying programs by the NSA began after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks under authority claimed by the executive branch.
Former NSA contractor Edward Snowden disclosed the programs, sparking a debate about privacy and security.
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Copyright: Press TV