Shaken NSA Grapples With an Overhaul

Shortly after former government contractor Edward Snowden revealed himself in June as the source of leaked National Security Agency documents, the agency's director, Gen. Keith Alexander, offered to resign, according to a senior US official. The offer, which hasn't previously been reported, was declined by the Obama Administration. But it shows the degree to which Snowden's revelations have shaken the NSA's foundations -- unlike any event in its six-decade history, including the blowback against domestic spying in the 1970s. The post-Snowden era has forced a major re-evaluation of NSA operations by the administration and on Capitol Hill, and the review is likely to alter the agency's rules of the road. "It was cataclysmic," Richard Ledgett, who heads a special NSA Snowden response team, said of the disclosures. "This is the hardest problem we've had to face in 62 years of existence." Broad new controls, though, run the risk of overcorrecting, leaving the agency unable to respond to a future crisis, critics of the expected changes warn.