14 DAY TRIAL // Under the command of Keith Alexander, the NSA has become a formidable machine, gobbling up huge amounts of information and data and reaching every corner of the world. Eight years ago, when Alexander took over the agency, the NSA was already doing most of the things it is doing now, just at a much smaller scale.
The four-star US army general is set to retire from the position next year. The move was planned ahead of the NSA spying revelations of recent months and, in fact, Alexander is one of the longest running NSA chiefs in history.
He may also be the one who had the most power. Under his command, the NSA expanded its surveillance program, but also its offensive capabilities. These days, the NSA gets a lot of its data by infiltrating computer systems, routers, networks, and so on, not just by intercepting traffic.
These offensive capabilities are mostly housed under the roof of the United States Cyber Command, which Alexander has been leading since 2010.
With his departure though and with mounting criticism of the power the NSA has amassed recently, there is talk in Washington of splitting up the two agencies and assigning them different leaders.
The Hill reports that a split is very likely, even if no formal decision has been made. Apparently, the Pentagon is thinking about assigning the leadership of the NSA to a civilian. A list of potential candidates already exists.
The US Cyber Command on the other hand would be led by a military officer and would be staffed by military personnel tasked with both offensive and defensive computer tasks. The two branches may end up being led by two military officers as well.
Alexander is lobbying to keep the two positions unified, but others are wary of handing over so much power to any one person, even if it results for more efficient decision making.