Former National Security Agency director, general Keith Alexander, has joined Amazon’s board of directors.
As first reported by The Verge, Amazon has revealed Alexander’s appointment in a new filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
“Alexander served as the commander of US Cyber Command from May 2010 to March 2014 and was director of the National Security Agency and chief of the Central Security Service from August 2005 to March 2014,” Amazon states in the filing.
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He’s also co-CEO and president of IronNet Cybersecurity, a cybersecurity company he founded in 2014 after leaving the NSA.
Alexander headed up the NSA at the time when former government contractor Edward Snowden leaked thousands of documents revealing the intelligence agency’s mass-surveillance programs, such as PRISM.
At Black Hat US 2013, Alexander defended NSA’s surveillance programs as critical to defending the US against terrorist attacks.
As a former NSA chief with deep intelligence and defense connections, Alexander is likely to be useful in Amazon’s ongoing challenge to the Pentagon’s selection of Microsoft for its $10bn JEDI contract.
The Department of Defense last week concluded its review of the decision and opted to uphold the award to Microsoft.
Amazon last week said the Pentagon’s decision was “politically corrupted” by Defense Department officials who bowed to pressure from President Trump. The company also highlighted concerns over “a growing trend where defense officials act based on a desire to please the President, rather than do what’s right”.
Following a meeting Alexander had with President Trump in 2013, the former NSA chief said he was “really impressed” with Trump and that he was the “president our nation needs – somebody who is looking how to solve cybersecurity issues”.
With his deep intelligence and defense connections, ex-NSA chief Alexander is likely to be useful in Amazon’s challenge to the Pentagon’s choice of Microsoft for its $10bn JEDI contract.
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