Keith Alexander | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2013 | |
| 1st Commander ofUnited States Cyber Command | |
| In office 21 May 2010 – 28 March 2014 | |
| President | Barack Obama |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | Michael S. Rogers |
| 16thDirector of the National Security Agency | |
| In office 1 August 2005 – 28 March 2014 | |
| President | George W. Bush Barack Obama |
| Deputy | John C. Inglis |
| Preceded by | Michael Hayden |
| Succeeded by | Michael S. Rogers |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1951-12-02)2 December 1951 (age 73) Syracuse, New York, United States |
| Spouse | Deborah Lynn Douglas |
| Education | United States Military Academy(BS) Boston University(MS) Naval Postgraduate School(MS) National Defense University(MS,MS) |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | United States |
| Branch/service | United States Army |
| Years of service | 1974–2014 |
| Rank | General |
| Commands | United States Cyber Command National Security Agency |
| Battles/wars | Gulf War |
| Awards | Defense Distinguished Service Medal Army Distinguished Service Medal (2) Defense Superior Service Medal (2) Legion of Merit (5) Bronze Star Medal |
Alexander testifies at aSenate Appropriations Committee hearing on cybersecurity preparation and response Recorded June 12, 2013 | |
Keith Brian Alexander (born 2 December 1951) is a retired four-stargeneral of theUnited States Army,[1] who served asdirector of the National Security Agency, chief of theCentral Security Service, and commander of theUnited States Cyber Command. He previously served as Deputy Chief of Staff,G-2 (Intelligence), United States Army from 2003 to 2005. He assumed the positions ofDirector of the National Security Agency and Chief of theCentral Security Service on 1 August 2005,[2] and the additional duties as CommanderUnited States Cyber Command on 21 May 2010.[3]
Alexander announced his retirement on 16 October 2013.[4] His retirement date was 28 March 2014.[5] In May 2014, Alexander founded IronNet Cybersecurity, a private-sectorcybersecurity firm based inFulton, Maryland.[6] He would leave the company in February 2024.[7]
Alexander was born on 2 December 1951, inSyracuse, New York, the son of Charlotte L. (Colvin) and Donald Henry Alexander.[8] He was raised inOnondaga Hill, New York, a suburb of Syracuse. He was a paperboy forThe Post-Standard and attendedWesthill Senior High School, where he ran track.[1]
Alexander attended theUnited States Military Academy at West Point, and in his class were three other future four-star generals:David Petraeus,Martin Dempsey andWalter L. Sharp. In April 1974,[dubious –discuss] Alexander married Deborah Lynn Douglas, who was a classmate in high school and who grew up near his family in Onondaga Hill.[1] They had four daughters.[9]
Alexander enteredactive duty at West Point, intending to serve for only five years.[10] Alexander's military education includes the Armor Officer Basic Course, the Military Intelligence Officer Advanced Course, theUnited States Army Command and General Staff College, and theNational War College.
Alexander worked onsignals intelligence at a number of secretNational Security Agency bases in the United States and Germany.[1] He earned aMaster of Science in business administration in 1978 fromBoston University, a Master of Science in systems technology (electronic warfare) and a Master in Science in physics in 1983 from theNaval Postgraduate School, and a Master of Science in national security strategy from theNational Defense University.[1][10][11] He rose quickly up the military ranks, due to his expertise in advanced technology and his competency at administration.[1]
Alexander's assignments include the Deputy Chief of Staff (DCS, G-2), Headquarters,Department of the Army,Washington, D.C., from 2003 to 2005; Commanding General of the United States Army Intelligence and Security Command atFort Belvoir,Virginia, from 2001 to 2003; Director of Intelligence (J-2),United States Central Command,MacDill Air Force Base,Florida, from 1998 to 2001; and Deputy Director for Intelligence (J-2) for theJoint Chiefs of Staff from 1997 to 1998. Alexander served in a variety of command assignments in Germany and the United States. These include tours as Commander of Border Field Office, 511th MI Battalion,66th MI Group; 336thArmy Security Agency Company, 525th MI Group; 204th MI Battalion; and525th Military Intelligence Brigade.
Additionally, Alexander held key staff assignments as Deputy Director and Operations Officer, Executive Officer, 522nd MI Battalion, 2nd Armored Division; G-2 for the 1st Armored Division both in Germany and during theGulf War, inOperation Desert Shield andOperation Desert Storm, inSaudi Arabia. He also served in Afghanistan on a peace keeping mission for the Army Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence.
Alexander headed the Army Intelligence and Security Command, where in 2001 he was in charge of 10,700 spies and eavesdroppers worldwide. In the words ofJames Bamford, who wrote his biography forWired, "Alexander and the rest of the American intelligence community suffered a devastating defeat when they were surprised by the attacks on9/11." Alexander's reaction was to order his intercept operators to begin to monitor the email and phone calls of American citizens who were unrelated to terrorist threats, including the personal calls of journalists.[1]
In 2003, Alexander was named deputy chief of staff for intelligence for the United States Army. The 205th MI Brigade involved in theAbu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse inBaghdad, Iraq was part of V Corps (US) and not under Alexander's command. Testifying to theSenate Armed Services Committee, Alexander called the abuse "totally reprehensible" and described the perpetrators as a "group of undisciplined MP soldiers".[12]Mary Louise Kelly, who interviewed him later forNPR, said that because he was "outside the chain of command that oversaw interrogations in Iraq", Alexander was able to survive with his "reputation intact".[13]
In 2004, along withAlberto Gonzales and others in theGeorge W. Bush administration, Alexander presented a memorandum that sought to justify the treatment of those who were deemed "unlawfulenemy combatants".[14]
In June 2013, theNational Security Agency was revealed by whistle-blowerEdward Snowden to be secretly spying on the American people withFISA-approved surveillance programs, such asPRISM andXKeyscore.
On 16 October 2013, it was publicly announced that Alexander and his deputy, Chris Inglis were leaving the NSA.[15]
On 13 April 2016,President Obama announced Alexander as a member of hisCommission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity.[16]
In 2005, secretary of defenseDonald Rumsfeld named Alexander, then a three-star general, asDirector of the National Security Agency. There, according to Bamford, Alexander deceived theHouse Intelligence Committee when his agency wasinvolved in warrantless wiretapping.[1] Also during this period, Alexander oversaw the implementation of theReal Time Regional Gateway in Iraq, an NSA data collection program that consisted of gathering all electronic communication, storing it, and then searching and otherwise analyzing it. A former senior U.S. intelligence agent described Alexander's program: "Rather than look for a single needle in the haystack, his approach was, 'Let's collect the whole haystack. Collect it all, tag it, store it ... And whatever it is you want, you go searching for it."[17]
By 2008, the Regional Gateway was effective in providing information about Iraqi insurgents who had eluded less comprehensive techniques.[17] This "collect it all" strategy introduced by Keith Alexander is believed byGlenn Greenwald ofThe Guardian to be the model for the comprehensive world-wide mass archiving of communications which NSA had become engaged in by 2013.[18]
According to Siobhan Gorman ofThe Wall Street Journal, a government official stated that Alexander offered to resign after the2013 global surveillance disclosures first broke out in June 2013, but that the Obama administration asked him not to.[19]
Alexander was confirmed by theUnited States Senate for appointment to the rank of general on May 7, 2010,[20] and was officially promoted to that rank in a ceremony on 21 May 2010. Alexander assumed command ofUnited States Cyber Command in the same ceremony that made him a four-star general.[21]
Alexander delivered the keynote address atBlack Hat USA in July 2013. The organizers describe Alexander as an advocate of "battlefield visualization and 'data fusion' for more useful intelligence". He provided them with this quote:
As our dependence on information networks increases, it will take a team to eliminate vulnerabilities and counter the ever-growing threats to the network. We can succeed in securing it by building strong partnerships between and within the private and public sectors, encouraging information sharing and collaboration, and creating and leveraging the technology that affords us the opportunity to secure cyberspace ...[22]
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Alexander gave the most comprehensive interview of his career, which spanned around 17,000 words, on 8 May 2014 to the Australian Financial Review journalist Christopher Joye, which was subsequently cited byEdward Snowden.[23] The full transcript, which covers NSA operations, Snowden, the metadata debates, encryption controversies, and Chinese and Russian spying, has been published online. On Snowden, Alexander told Joye: "I suspect Russian intelligence are driving what he does. Understand as well that they're only going to let him do those things that benefit Russia, or stand to help improve Snowden's credibility".[24]Wired magazine said that the AFR interview with Alexander showed that he was defending the stockpiling ofzero-days, whileThe Wall Street Journal and other media focused upon Alexander's claims about Snowden working for Russian intelligence.[25][26] In July 2012, in response to a question fromJeff Moss, the founder of theDEF CON hacker convention, "... does the NSA really keep a file on everyone?", Alexander replied, "No, we don't. Absolutely no. And anybody who would tell you that we're keeping files or dossiers on the American people knows that's not true."[27]
In March 2012, in response to questions from RepresentativeHank Johnson during a United States Congress hearing about allegations made by former NSA officials that the NSA engages in collection of voice and digital information of U.S. citizens, Alexander said that, despite the allegations of "James Bashford" [sic] inWired magazine, the NSA does not collect that data.[28]
On 9 July 2012, when asked by a member of the press if a large data center in Utah was used to store data on American citizens, Alexander stated, "No. While I can't go into all the details on theUtah Data Center, we don't hold data on U.S. citizens."[29]
At DEF CON 2012, Alexander was the keynote speaker; during the question and answers session, in response to the question "Does the NSA really keep a file on everyone, and if so, how can I see mine?" Alexander replied "Our job is foreign intelligence" and that "Those who would want to weave the story that we have millions or hundreds of millions of dossiers on people, is absolutely false ... From my perspective, this is absolute nonsense."[28]
On 6 June 2013, the day after Snowden's revelations, then-Director of National IntelligenceJames Clapper released a statement admitting the NSA collects telephonymetadata on millions of Americans telephone calls.[30] This metadata information included originating and terminating telephone number, telephone calling card number,IMEI number, time and duration of phone calls.[31]
Andy Greenberg ofForbes said that NSA officials, including Alexander, in the years 2012 and 2013 "publicly denied—often with carefully hedged words—participating in the kind of snooping on Americans that has since become nearly undeniable."[28] In September 2013, Alexander was asked by SenatorMark Udall if it is the goal of the NSA to "collect the phone records of all Americans", to which Alexander replied:[32]
Yes, I believe it is in the nation's best interest to put all the phone records into a lockbox that we could search.
Alexander announced his retirement on October 16, 2013.[4] His retirement date was March 28, 2014, and his replacement was U.S. Navy Vice AdmiralMichael S. Rogers.[5]
In May 2014, after his retirement from NSA, Alexander founded IronNet Cybersecurity.[6] IronNet provides cybersecurity coverage for private-sector companies using its IronDefense program and a team of cybersecurity analysts and experts. The company is headquartered inFulton, Maryland, with offices inFrederick, Maryland,McLean, Virginia, andNew York City. In October 2015, IronNet received $32.5 million in funding from Trident Capital Cybersecurity (now ForgePoint Capital) andKleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers in aSeries A investment.[33][6] In May 2018, IronNet raised an additional $78 million in a round led by C5 Capital alongside existing investors ForgePoint Capital and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.[34] In August 2021, IronNet went public on the New York Stock Exchange via a SPAC merger with LGL Systems Acquisition Corp.[35] Alexander was later replaced by Linda Zecher on 12 July 2023, asCEO of IronNet.[36] After two years of going public, IronNet announced it will be delisted from the NYSE in August 2023 leaving all retail investors with worthless shares.[37]
In early October 2024 theAP reported that an investment bank had approached over 100 prospective buyers for the company, citing federal records, but none of them made an offer.[7]
Alexander joinedAmazon's board of directors, as revealed in anSEC filing on 9 September 2020.[38][39]
 | Defense Distinguished Service Medal |
  | Army Distinguished Service Medal withoak leaf cluster |
 | Defense Superior Service Medal with oak leaf cluster |
 | Legion of Merit with four oak leaf clusters |
 | Bronze Star Medal |
 | Meritorious Service Medal with four oak leaf clusters |
 | Air Medal |
 | Army Commendation Medal with oak leaf cluster |
 | ArmyAchievement Medal with oak leaf cluster |
 | Joint Meritorious Unit Award |
 | ArmySuperior Unit Award |
 | National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal |
  | National Defense Service Medal with bronzeservice star |
.svg) | Southwest Asia Service Medal with 2 bronze service stars |
 | Humanitarian Service Medal |
 | Army Service Ribbon |
  | Army Overseas Service Ribbon with bronzeaward numeral 2 |
 | Royal Norwegian Order of Merit (Commander with Cross)[40] |
_ribbon.svg) | Kuwait Liberation Medal (Saudi Arabia) |
_ribbon.svg) | Kuwait Liberation Medal (Kuwait) |
Alexander was inducted into the NPS Hall of Fame in 2013.
In the fall of 2014, Alexander told a public forum that someone else had claimed a $9,000IRS refund in his name, and that the thieves used his identity to apply for about 20 credit cards.[41]
Collect it all, tag it, store it ... And whatever it is you want, you go searching for it.
| Government offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Director of the National Security Agency 2005–2014 | Succeeded by |
| Military offices | ||
| New command | Commander of theUnited States Cyber Command 2010–2014 | Succeeded by |
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| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
