NSA Chief General Kieth Alexander and "The Secret War"

[Laelth]

4. Also worth considering.

Helping Alexander organize and dominate this new arena would be his fellow plebes from West Point’s class of 1974: David Petraeus, the CIA director; and Martin Dempsey, chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Here's some pure speculation on my part:

Either Petraeus fell out of favor and Alexander neutralized him, or, one of Alexander's enemies took down Petraeus in order to weaken Alexander.

Plus this (also speculative):

Alexander announced his intention to retire in 2014. Perhaps that gave someone the ability to launch a national discussion on this issue without fear of reprisal from Alexander. Or, perhaps, Alexander launched this national discussion in the hopes of reigning in his successor (whomever that may be) because Alexander rightly fears tyranny if the power he has at his disposal were to fall into less benign hands.

And this comment following the article:

Hoover got his power from the information he held on powerful people. Prism could have done the same for Alexander. If you tap into every data transmission in the US and store it, you will have dirt on everyone. Alexander could turn Obama into a puppet. And perhaps he did.

Nifty (if also horrifying) stuff.

-Laelth


Edit:Laelth--better presentation, visually.