The NSA Director Behind the Data Tracking Headlines

NSA director General Keith Alexander spent some time explaining the necessity of the NSA's surveillance programs on Wednesday. And while the director's answers at to the assembled lawmakers were low on specifics, it seemed to boil down to two implied words: trust me.

"I would rather take a public beating, and let people think I'm hiding something, than jeopardize the security of this country," Alexander told a group of somewhat testy legislators at a hearing that wasn't intended to address the NSA leaks. He did, as we noted earlier, confirm some details, for instance, that NSA phone data records are cleared every five years. He also said that "dozens of terrorist events" have been prevented with the data tracking programs, but didn't name specifics.

Read more at The Atlantic Wire