Amazon said Wednesday it has appointed former National Security Agency chief Keith Alexander to its board of directors. Alexander will join Amazon's audit committee, the internet retail giant said in a report to the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
Alexander came under fire during his tenure as the agency's head after former NSA contractor Edward Snowden leaked classified documents in June 2013.
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The disclosures led to backlash against the surveillance programs as well Pressure on the tech industry to protect user data from government dragnets. Some of the programs, such as mass capture of phone records from people living in the US, have finished (a dish also recently found the program illegal). Others, like the PRISM program, which intercepts e-mails and documents and also collects records from people in the United States, have been Re-approved by Congress ever since they became public.
Snowden tweeted about Amazon announced on Wednesday that Alexander was "personally responsible for the illegal mass surveillance programs that caused a global scandal".
🚨🚨 It turns out that "Hey Alexa" is short for "Hey Keith Alexander". Yes, the Keith Alexander who is personally responsible for the illegal mass surveillance programs that created a global scandal. And Amazon Web Services (AWS) host ~ 6% of all websites. 🚨🚨https: //t.co/6hkzsHjxh9
- Edward Snowden (@Snowden) September 9, 2020
Alexander, a retired four-star general in the U.S. Army, served as Director of the Authority from 2005 until his retirement in 2014. After retiring, he moved into cybersecurity and became President and Co-CEO of IronNet Cybersecurity.