profiles nsa

7/28/2019 Profiles NSA

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Profiles of Key Officials in NSA Domestic Spying

The NSA Domestic Spying program involved key personnel from across the government and at thehighest levels of the White House, Department of Justice (DOJ), Federal Bureau of Investigations(FBI), and National Security Agency (NSA). Few people were aware of the program, but those whowere played vital rolls in the process of its creation and execution. OurNSA Domestic SpyingTimeline cites those officials, some of whom are not as public as others. As a result, we've created alist of key individuals with a picture and a short biography describing their positions. Theindividuals are listed by the Department they worked for. Our other pages on the NSA spying gooverhow we think the process works, an overview of one of the government'slegal argument, and

the word games the government plays.
https://www.eff.org/nsa-spying/timelinehttps://www.eff.org/nsa-spying/timelinehttps://www.eff.org/pages/how-nsas-domestic-spying-program-workshttps://www.eff.org/pages/state-secrets-privilegehttps://www.eff.org/pages/state-secrets-privilegehttps://www.eff.org/pages/governments-word-games-when-talking-about-nsa-domestic-spyinghttps://www.eff.org/nsa-spying/timelinehttps://www.eff.org/nsa-spying/timelinehttps://www.eff.org/pages/how-nsas-domestic-spying-program-workshttps://www.eff.org/pages/state-secrets-privilegehttps://www.eff.org/pages/governments-word-games-when-talking-about-nsa-domestic-spying


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The Department of Justice

John Ashcroft,

Attorney General of the United States

Nominated by President Bush and confirmed by the Senate to serve as the Attorney General in2000. He served for the entire first term of Bush's presidency and retired shortly after PresidentBush won reelection in 2004. He was the first Attorney General who oversaw the alleged legalrationale for the program. As Attorney General, Ashcroft authorized and approved the Program on

behalf of the Department of Justice.

James B. Comey,

Deputy Attorney General,

and for a short time Acting Attorney General

Served as Deputy Attorney General beginning in 2003 and ending in the fall of 2005. He raisedobjections to Attorney General Ashcroft about the illegal nature of the Program in 2004, and asActing Attorney General refused to give the Department of Justice's legal approval to the Program.He later signed off on a modified version of the Program.

Jack Goldsmith,

Assistant Attorney General in the Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel

Between October 2003 and July 2004 he served as a United States Assistant Attorney General andwas the head of the Office of Legal Counsel, supervising attorney Patrick Philbin. He oversaw thelegal review of Office of Legal Counsel attorney John Yoo's legal authorization, declared the legalrationale unsuitable, and redrafted the legal rationale for domestic spying with Philbin.


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Alberto Gonzales

Attorney General of the United States

Originally served as White House Counsel from 2001 to 2005 and was appointed in February 2005to serve as the 80th Attorney General. He resigned after two years in 2007 amid a tremendousamount of controversy surrounding numerous issues, including warrantless wiretapping. As WhiteHouse Counsel, Gonzales was personally involved in the creation, development, andimplementation of the Program. As Attorney General, Defendant Gonzales authorized and approvedthe Program on behalf of the Department of Justice.

Michael Mukasey,

Attorney General of the United StatesServed as the Attorney General from 2007 to 2009. AsAttorney General, Mukasey approved and authorized the Program on behalf of the Department ofJustice.

Patrick Philbin,

Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Department of Justice's Office of Legal CounselServed asa Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Office of Legal Counsel from 2001 to 2003 and as anAssociate Deputy Attorney General from 2003 to 2005. He worked alongside Office of LegalCounsel chief Jack Goldsmith to perform several legal reviews of the warrantless wiretapping

program.


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Larry Thompson,

Deputy Attorney General at the Department of Justice

Served as Deputy Attorney General in the Department of Justice from 2001 to 2003. He was theindividual who usually signed off on Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrants for the DOJ

before they went to the FISA court for judicial review. After being shown warrants with missinginformation as to how the FBI received investigatory leads, he concluded that he would not sign theorder.

John Yoo

Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Office of Legal Counsel

From 2001 to 2003, he served as a Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Office of Legal

Counsel in the Department of Justice. He was one of the only Office of Legal Counsel attorneys tobe "read into" the program and was also one of the only attorneys to draft the legal rationale for thelegality of the program. The first legal analysis was completed almost a month after the program

began. This legal analysis was later repudiated.


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Directors of National Intelligence

The Director of National Intelligence oversees the entire Intelligence Community and serves as theprincipal advisor to the President on intelligence matters.

Jim Clapper,Director of National Intelligence

Serves as the current Director of National Intelligence under President Obama and was confirmed in2010 by a unanimous US Senate vote.

J. Michael McConnell,

Director of National Intelligence

He took over the position of Director of National Intelligence from John Negroponte in 2007,serving until 2009. He was replaced soon after President Obama began his administration by DennisC. Blair. As Director, McConnell had authority over the activities of the US intelligencecommunity, including the Program. He previously served as Director of the National Security

Agency from 1992 to 1996.

John D. Negroponte,

Director of National Intelligence

Negroponte was the first ever Director of National Intelligence after the position was created byCongress in the reforms passed after the attacks on September 11, 2001. He served under PresidentBush from 2005 until 2007, until he became the Deputy Secretary of State in 2007 and serving inthat role until 2009. As DNI, Defendant Negroponte had authority over the activities of the U.S.intelligence community, including the Program.


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The White House and the Office of the Vice President

David S. Addington,

Legal Counsel to Vice President Dick Cheney,

and later Chief of Staff to Vice President Dick Cheney

Served as legal counsel to Vice President Dick Cheney from 2001 to 2005 and then served as Chiefof Staff to Vice President Cheney from 2005-2009. He was the driving force behind much of thealleged legal rationale and fought to keep the Program secret from many others in the

administration. Addington drafted many of the documents that purportedly authorized the Program.

George W. Bush, President of the United States

43rd President of the United States. On October 4, 2001, President Bush, in concert with WhiteHouse Counsel Gonzales, NSA Director Hayden, Attorney General Ashcroft and others, issued asecret presidential order authorizing a range of surveillance activities inside of the United States,including the Program.


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Dick Cheney,Vice President of the United States

46th Vice President of the United States. Cheney was personally involved in the creation,development and implementation of the Program.

National Security Agency

Lieutenant General Keith B. Alexander,

Director of the NSA

Serves as the current Director of NSA since 2005 and is also currently the leader of the UnitedStates Cyber Command. As Director, he oversees the Program.

Michael Hayden,

Director of the NSA,

and later the Director of the CIA

Served as the Director of the NSA from 1999 to 2005 under Presidents Bill Clinton and GeorgeBush. From 2005 to 2006 he served as Deputy Director of National Intelligence before becomingDirector of CIA in 2006. He served as Director of CIA until 2009. While Director of the NSA, he

oversaw the Program.


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Whistleblowers

Mark Klein,

Ex-AT&T Technician

Mark Klein was an AT&T technician who worked at the Folsom Street Facility in San Franciscowhen the NSA began to build the SG3 Secret Room. Klein possessed detailed schematics for theroom which uncovered the existence of, among others, a splitter that redirected copies of thecommunications going through the AT&T facility and advanced surveillance equipment. In January2006, Klein came to EFF to reveal the documents and also reveal AT&T's cooperation with the

NSA.

William (Bill) Binney, NSA Analyst

Senior NSA crypto-mathematician turned whistleblower who worked at NSA for almost fortyyears. He was part of a team that helped develop advanced surveillance software called ThinThreadwith J. Kirk Wiebe. ThinThread encrypted any Americans' intercepted communications until thegovernment was able to obtain a warrant. NSA chose not to implement ThinThread, but insteadchose Trailblazer, which ran over budget, failed to accomplish its goals, and was eventuallycancelled. Afterwards, Binney helped notify Congressmen about the failed project, which wasestimated to cost taxpayers over $4 billion.

Thomas A. Drake, NSA Executive

Former executive at NSA and whistleblower who notified the public about the government waste inTrailblazer. He also submitted an affidavit in support of EFF's lawsuit against the NSA forwarrantless spying. Was prosecuted for allegedly leaking national security secrets to the BaltimoreSun in 2005 under the Espionage Act, but the charges were later dropped.

J. Kirk Wiebe, NSA AnalystEx-NSA Analyst who worked for over thirty years at the NSA. Along with William Binney, Wiebedeveloped advanced surveillance software called ThinThread that encrypted any Americans'intercepted communications until the government was able to obtain a warrant. NSA chose not to

implement ThinThread, but instead chose Trailblazer, which ran over budget, failed to accomplishits goals, and was eventually cancelled. Afterwards, he helped notify Congressmen about the failed

project.

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