Keith B. Alexander

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
General Keith Alexander (2010)

Keith Brian Alexander (born December 2, 1951 in Syracuse , New York ) is a former general in the United States Army (USA). He was in 2014 director from 1 August 2005 to 28 March, the National Security Agency ( DIRNSA ) and headed to the United States Cyber Command (USCYBERCOM) in addition since April 2010 in personal union also a functional command of the United States Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM) .

Alexander gained media fame in June 2013 in the course of reporting on the surveillance programs PRISM and XKeyscore initiated by the NSA under his leadership , the existence of which the whistleblower Edward Snowden had recently made public in the British daily newspaper “ The Guardian ”.

Education and career

After attending high school in Onondaga Hill, a suburb of his hometown Syracuse, Alexander studied from 1970 at the United States Military Academy in West Point , New York, from which he graduated in 1974 with a Bachelor of Science - originally with the intention of returning to the military to leave.

In addition to his bachelor's degree at West Point, Alexander's education includes masters degrees in business administration from Boston University (1978), systems technology (electronic warfare) and physics from the Naval Postgraduate School (1983), and national security strategy from the National Defense University ; also mainly intelligence courses and advanced training at Command and General Staff College and National War College .

Alexander served in various, mostly intelligence uses, including as Commander of Border Field Office , 511th MI - Battalion , 66th MI Group ; 336th Army Security Agency Company , 525th MI Group, 204th MI Battalion, and 525th Military Intelligence Brigade . From 1997 to '98 he was Associate Director for Intelligence , J-2 , on the United Joint Chiefs of Staff .

As an intelligence officer in the 1st Armored Division in Saudi Arabia , he participated in Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm in the Second Gulf War.

Service in the rank of general

As a Brigadier General , Alexander initially served as Director for Intelligence , J-2 , of US Central Command , MacDill Air Force Base , Fla. , Before being transferred to Fort Belvoir, Virginia , in November 2000 as Commanding General of the US Army Intelligence and Security Command ; in this position he was promoted to major general in June 2001 .

Alexander during a lecture at West Point Military Academy (June 2012)

Between May 2003 and July 2005, he served with the rank of lieutenant general as Deputy Chief of Staff , G-2 , the US Army in Washington, DC , before August 1, 2005 by then- Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld 's successor , Michael Hayden ( USAF ) became director of the National Security Agency at Fort Meade , Maryland .

In October 2009, US President Barack Obama also nominated Alexander for command of the newly established United States Cyber ​​Command. After activating USCYBERCOM in April 2010 and Alexander taking over command, he was finally promoted to general on May 21 of the same year.

On March 28, 2014, Alexander resigned from active service, his successor as NSA director was Admiral Michael S. Rogers ( USN ).

Surveillance and espionage affair

When the worldwide surveillance practices of his agency using extensive espionage software became known in early June 2013, Alexander became increasingly in the headlines , especially in many member states of the EU , but also in Latin America and the United States . Alexander defended the use of the espionage programs in lectures and several hearings before the US Senate , including the "central role" that they played in countering terrorism ( war on terror ).

As a management consultant

After retiring from the civil service, Alexander now works as a management consultant on information security and cyberwar , the company he founded is called IronNet Cybersecurity Inc. Renowned customers of the first quarter of his activity (March to June 2014), which he sold for about 600,000 US dollars each Month sold, were u. A. The Financial Services Roundtable , which represents the 100 largest financial companies in the United States , and The Clearing House . Alexander's company shares a building with the Promontory Financial Group and was in contact with the lobbying organization Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association . The core message and intention of his advice is to promote and strengthen awareness of the sensitivity of digital infrastructure.

Awards

Selection of decorations, sorted based on the Order of Precedence of Military Awards :

Promotions

rank year
US-O1 insignia.svg Second lieutenant 1974
US-O2 insignia.svg First lieutenant n / A
US-O3 insignia.svg Captain n / A
US-O4 insignia.svg major n / A
US-O5 insignia.svg Lieutenant Colonel n / A
US-O6 insignia.svg Colonel n / A
US-O7 insignia.svg Brigadier General n / A
US-O8 insignia.svg Major General 2001
US-O9 insignia.svg Lieutenant General  2003
US-O10 insignia.svg general 2010

Private

Keith Alexander is the third of five children of Donald Henry and Charlotte L. Alexander, b. Colvin. He has been with Deborah Lynn Alexander, b. Douglas, married; they have four daughters together.

Trivia

  • Alexander completed his training at West Point together with two other senior military officials: the future ISAF commander and CIA director David Petraeus and the chairman of the United Joint Chiefs of Staff from 2011 to 2015, Martin Dempsey .
  • Keith Alexander was at the NSA facility at Fort Belvoir in Fairfax County, Virginia, a bridge on the model of the Starship Enterprise from the science fiction series Star Trek - The Next Generation build. Alexander repeatedly showed the “Information Dominance Center”, which is strictly secret, to colleagues and VIPs on a tour of the complex. The navigating bridge had a number of details, including chrome-plated consoles, computers, and a large front display. Alexander had doors installed that open to the side like on the Enterprise, including the typical hissing noise, as well as a captain's chair in the middle of the room. The Star Trek Bridge was custom built by a Hollywood set designer.
  • Keith Alexander is registered as the inventor of a method in the field of information security. It was filed as a US patent and assigned to the National Security Agency .

See also

literature

Web links

Commons : Keith B. Alexander  - Collection of Images

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d biography of Alexander at the National Security Agency (English; last accessed on August 1, 2013).
  2. ↑ Knop, Carsten et al. Schmidt, Holger: Companies and States in Cyber ​​War. FAZ.net of October 12, 2010 (last accessed on August 1, 2013).
  3. ↑ Greenwald, Glenn et al. MacAskill, Ewan: NSA Prism program taps in to user data of Apple, Google and others. theguardian.com dated June 7, 2013 (last accessed August 1, 2013).
  4. ↑ a b Fischer, Sebastian: NSA boss defends snooping action. Spiegel Online from June 13, 2013 (last accessed on August 1, 2013).
  5. ↑ a b c d e Bamford, James: The secret war. wired.com from June 12, 2013 (English; last accessed on August 1, 2013).
  6. ↑ a b whorunsGOV? Gene. Keith B. Alexander. Entry on washingtonpost.com (last accessed August 1, 2013).
  7. ↑ Press release of the Ministry of Defense of June 19, 2001 (last accessed on August 1, 2013).
  8. ↑ Press release of the Ministry of Defense of May 5, 2003 (last accessed on August 1, 2013).
  9. ↑ Press release from the Ministry of Defense of October 16, 2009 (last accessed on August 1, 2013).
  10. ↑ Speech of the then Defense Minister Leon Panetta on the occasion of Alexander's promotion on May 21, 2010 (English; last accessed on August 1, 2013).
  11. ↑ ALEXANDER BIDS FAREWELL. (PDF (approx. 97 KB)) nsa.gov, March 28, 2014, archived from the original on March 21, 2016 ; accessed on November 23, 2016 .
  12. ^ Rogers Confirmed to Take Helm of USCYBERCOM, NSA / CSS. nsa.gov, April 1, 2014, accessed November 23, 2016 .
  13. ↑ Krauel, Torsten: Alexander "the great", General of the Scout Alliance. Welt Online from June 23, 2013 (last accessed on August 1, 2013).
  14. ↑ Gerstein, Josh et al. Everett, Burgess: NSA director Keith Alexander defends surveillance to Senate panel. politico.com from June 12, 2013 (including video excerpt from a hearing; English; last accessed on August 1, 2013).
  15. ^ Reissmann, Ole: IT Conference Black Hat - Secret Service General on a cuddle course. Spiegel Online from August 1, 2013 (last accessed August 1, 2013).
  16. ^ Ex-NSA Chief Pitches Banks Costly Advice on Cyber-Attacks , Bloomberg News website, June 20, 2014. Retrieved June 21, 2014.
  17. ^ Announcement of the Syracuse Herald Journal of April 23, 1974. Archived on freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com (English; last accessed on August 1, 2013).
  18. ↑ NSA boss built a replica of the Enterprise spacecraft. Report on n-tv .de from September 16, 2013 (last accessed on September 18, 2013).
  19. ↑ Shane Harris: The Cowboy of the NSA. Inside Gen. Keith Alexander's all-out, barely-legal drive to build the ultimate spy machine. ( Memento of the original from October 19, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , foreignpolicy.com, September 9, 2013 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.foreignpolicy.com
  20. ↑ US 8898784 B1, “Device for and method of computer intrusion anticipation, detection, and remediation”. Issued November 25, 2014 (English; last accessed November 12, 2015).
personal data
SURNAME Alexander, Keith B.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Alexander, Keith Brian (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American intelligence officer, director of the National Security Agency
DATE OF BIRTH 2nd December 1951
PLACE OF BIRTH Syracuse , New York