More Changes to Come at the National Security Agency

The leader of a task force responsible for investigating the Edward Snowden leaks revealed the National Security Agency has undergone numerous changes with more to come.  Richard Ledgett spoke to Reuters in an lengthy interview and discussed the post-Snowden NSA.

Describing the disclosures as “cataclysmic,” Ledgett described his worry about the documents not yet revealed to the public by Snowden. 

Some of the changes already enacted at the Agency include “41 specific technical measures to control data by tagging and tracking it, to supervise agency networks with controls on activity, and to increase oversight of individuals.”  Another involves the “two-person control” to access any data and “enhancing the security process that people go through and requiring more frequent screenings of systems administrative access.”

News broke on Thursday that the administration has suggested changes in their dragnet metadata collection (as opposed to say, stopping it entirely) deciding that a third-party organization should be responsible for holding the data rather than the NSA. 

Ledgett makes no apologies for the agency’s “monitoring”: “He noted that the U.S. government’s intelligence taskings to the agency run to 36,000 pages, and said its activities take place within a “box” of U.S. laws and policies.”  He also disagreed with the characterization of Snowden as a whistleblower. “I actually think characterizing him as a whistleblower is a disservice to people who are whistleblowers.”

An interview with Ledgett will air this evening on 60 Minutes.