New NSA director rips critics, calls for 'less simplistic' national conversation about surveillance

Speaking Friday at the RAND Corporation's biennial postelection conference, called Politics Aside, National Security Agency Director Michael Rogers delivered his most candid — and, at times, combative — remarks to date about the image problems facing the shadowy agency, sounding defensive even as he emphasized the need for increased "dialogue" with the public.

"We don't monitor the behaviors of American citizens," Rogers insisted. "That's not what we're about. That's not our mission. That's not what we're here to do. So we've got to work our way through this."

Rogers, a Navy admiral, took over the NSA in April. (He also serves as head of U.S. Cyber Command.) At the time, he said NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden was "probably not" working for a foreign intelligence agency, despite frequent speculation to the contrary. But at Friday's RAND event, Rogers insisted that Snowden's revelations have damaged America's counterterrorism efforts all the same.

"For those who would argue that the media leaks have had no impact, I would argue you don't know what you're talking about," Rogers said. "I'm watching groups change their behavior. I'm watching groups talk about the disclosures and say, 'Look, we can't use this because the Americans are onto it.' That's not a laughing matter to me."

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