House intelligence committee seeks information on reported recommendation to remove NSA chief

House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes sent a letter on November 19 to Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper asking both officials to appear before the Committee to discuss the veracity of press reports that they recommended removing Admiral Michael Rogers, Director of the National Security Agency. An excerpt of the letter appears below:

Since Admiral Rogers was appointed as NSA Director in April 2014, I have been consistently impressed with his leadership and accomplishments. His professionalism, expertise, and deckplate leadership have been remarkable during an extremely challenging period for NSA. I know other members of Congress hold him in similarly high esteem.

Given the Committee’s constitutional responsibility to conduct oversight of the Intelligence Community (IC), I am asking you to provide a full explanation of the allegations contained in the Post article. I am also concerned that the article may contain unauthorized disclosures of classified information. Additionally, as the Committee noted in its report to accompany H.R. 5077, the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017, any decision to end the dual-hatting relationship between NSA and USCYBERCOM should prompt a further review of NSA’s organization.

You can read the full letter here.

Source: HPSCI