The director of the nsa, admiral mike rogers. Then improving congressional transparency using wikipedia. Town hall meeting with nancy pelosi and representative hoffman. The drafter of the nsa says his agency is committed to following the rule of law and providing transparency from gathering intelligence. He spoke about the future of the nsa at an event hosted by the National Security alliance for minutes. [laughter] [applause] x good evening. Can you hear me in the back . Can you hear me in the back . Excellent. First and foremost, thank you for taking time out of your busy lives to spend it together with us this evening to rear. To be honest, i was shocked to do an event in bc in the middle of august. I just didnt think there would be many people here tonight. Thank you for your willingness to take time out of your busy lives to spend some time. I am also grateful because frankly im here tonight for several reasons. First and foremost, many of you have heard me talk about this previously, as the commander of the United StatesCyber Command i am a Firm Believer that public ilog and transparency is an important part of securing our Mission Today and in the future. We have got to be willing to have a public dialogue. So, when i was asked if i would be willing to do this, i said no restrictions on media or questions. If we do this, rogers goes in with his eyes open. Because i think that is important. There is no doubt that one of my primary missions is to represent the hardworking men and women of the National Security agency and help the American Public understand who they are, what they do, and why they do it. Quite frankly, we havent had much discussion about that. The National Security agency, in simple terms, is tasked to defend the nation and its allies, comply with the rule of law, and be sure we always ran accountable to the american beat all. That is what we are about. Defending the nation, our allies , following the rule of law, and always remembering that remain we remain accountable to the citizens that we defend. Much of the debate about these capabilities has been highlighted around what nsa can do. What we have not talked much about is the context in which the capabilities are applied. One of the policies and legal met legal mechanisms in place to make sure that those capabilities are not misused against the citizens we would defend . What leads us to believe that the things that nsa does are in the best interests of the nation and our allies . I took his job in no small part because i believe in the National Security agency and its mission. It does not mean we are perfect. You will not hear me say that. You will hear me say that we are committed to the rule of law and we will be held accountable and that when we make mistakes, we will stand up and acknowledge that and use the very compliance mechanisms put in place internally within the agency and, perhaps more importantly, using the broader set of external criteria made up the congress, the courts, the department of justice, our teammates when we make a mistake, we will acknowledge it. In fact, much of what you have read has flowed from nsa Self Reporting where we have made mistakes and not wrongfully followed our own procedures. I highlight that in the course of the last few months you have seen multiple public reviews of what nsa does, for example, in compliance with fisa 702, the 215 section, by external organizations who have looked at us and said that nsa is complying with the law and has a robust set of mechanisms in place to make sure we dont abuse the information that we collect and that it is appropriately protected. It doesnt mean we are perfect, but i am proud of what weve put in place. In no small part because we have learned from our past mistakes. We implemented a pretty extensive Compliance Organization back in 2009, because we realized we needed to do things better. My compliments to general alexander and predecessors for his commitment to the idea of compliance and oversight. To do our mission, we have to do that. There is much debate and it is a good one as a nation to talk about the right balance between the needs to ensure our security and the needs to ensure the recognition of the rights of our citizens . And it is not either or. We have got to address the valid concerns. The harder challenge to me, in some ways, is the acknowledgment between secrecy and transparency. That is the challenge for me as an intelligence professional. If i am honest i have spent my whole life thinking about protecting sources, methods, making sure that what we do is not compromised and that our ability to continue to do it remains intact . I realize that as an Intelligence Leader in the 21st century rogers, you have to be willing to talk to a broader set of people and in broad terms about what we do and why we do it. I am very comfortable with what nsa does and why it does it. Because i believe that we defend the nation and its allies. We follow the rule of the law and we always remember that we remain accountable to the american people. Accountability comes in many forms. It could be the congress that execute the oversight of our functions, the courts to grant us the authority to do what we do in many cases we have to make a case, in many cases, to a federal court to get permission to do what we do. Nobody writes us a blank check or gives us permission for a finite purpose for a finite. Of time. If we want to continue beyond that, we go back to the court to make a case again. When we make mistakes, weve got to make sure that we report to the court of we have failed in our compliance. The other challenge i have is the director of nsa, as i tell the organization about its new director, we cannot be trapped by the past. We have got to learn from the past and drive. There is a mission that the nation depends on. Almost every major operation that i can think of that we as a nation have done in the course of the last year, for example, many other elements of the Intelligence Committee community have played a role. That is a good thing for the citizens of this country and for our allies. Dont ever forget, we are not only about supporting the United States, but we are also about supporting our allies and i spent a great deal of my time as director ensuring that those partnerships remain focused on the future, remembering what it was that brought us together in the first ways. My challenge is how do i make sure that nsa remains effective in executing its mission . How do i make sure that we are positioned as the world around us changes to make sure that we maintain relevance and capabilities, always mindful to obey the rule of law as citizens of the nation that we defend . And that what we need to be doing now that if we dont do in five years to 10 years, we will be in real trouble . Another area i would give general alexander great marks is i was always impressed, early in his time as the director, and can remember talking to him about and him telling me about the efforts we needed to make now that would not be a factor for five or 10 years but if we didnt do it now, the person behind him will challenges. Thats hard and hard to do in an environment where the budget pressure is increasing, not decreasing. We have enjoyed relatively steady increases in funding over the course of the last decade. A reflection in large part on the strategic situation we found ourselves in as a nation and the two wars that we fought in which many, many of our countrymen made the ultimate sacrifice and came back fundamentally changed. Not only sacrificing in many cases their lives, but they became fundamentally different individuals. I think about them all the time. As we move into the future i am constantly thinking to myself what do we need to do to make sure that we remain relevant to those men and women around the world . Average citizens, traveling the world who find themselves in dangerous circumstances and bad situations . We are here to try to make a difference in all of those scenarios. Nothing to apologize for. When we do it, we always remember to obey the rule of law and be accountable to the citizens of the nation. Everything we have done to date, it has been about the law being correct. You could argue that the policy is or isnt something we need to be doing, but no one has come back to say that nsa has failed to follow the law or meet its obligations in ensuring that we protect the information that we collect in the course of our duties. It does not mean that we are perfect. But i fundamentally believe in what we do. I fundamentally believe what we do and how we do it. Will you stand for a minute if you were formerly an employee . I know there are some of you here. The reason i ask you to stand is because rogers gets the attention as a director, but what really matters to me are the men and women like this who have dedicated themselves to ensuring the defense of our citizens and allies. I just wanted to say thank you very much. [applause] as i think to myself about how we build the future, partnerships are incredibly important to the future. I have always agreed that the future to me is about integration and maximizing partnerships. Another reason why i am here tonight, i want to be public in saying that i need the help and capability that many of you in this room and others around the world bring to bear. You cant do this alone. The u. S. Government being the driver of technology . Thats not our scenario for the 21st century. The nsa needs good partners. They have two primary missions. To gain insight about the world around us and nations who would like to gain an advantage over us and groups, who if they have their way, literally every one of us would be dead. We dont think about that much in this society, but think about what we take for granted. A Stable Society in which the rule of law is respected and the rights of individuals are codified in law. We have been blessed with that for 238 years. And we take it for granted. You go around the world today and it flat out doesnt exist in other places. There are groups and individuals who if they have their way the entire idea of the inherent right of the individual to make choices in their lives would not exist. There are groups and individuals who believe that everything we stand for as a nation is diametrically opposed to their view of the world and the only way that thereve you can triumph is if we arent here anymore. I am not someone who jumps up and down and says see how terrible the world is . Know i am sometimes amazed by people who act as though we have no significant challenges out there. We have been fortunate as a nation that since september of 2001, we have managed to forestall Foreign Terrorists on u. S. Soil. We have had some domestic issues, but we have been able to foil those external to the United States who attempted to create in some form the events of 9 11, but we have lost citizens from around the world, not just u. S. Citizens, people from around the world whose only mistake was they picked a particular day to go to work in an Office Building or a particular day to do business and office will bring. But they went to work at the pentagon. Or they were on the wrong aircraft. Almost 3000 of them lost their lives. The individuals who perpetrate that remain out there. We need to remember that. Now, as i said, it is all about finding a balance. It is not either or. If the price of a cheese and achieving security is becoming something we are not, then they have one. And i have no desire to fundamentally compromised the rights at the heart of what is america. As the nsa director i am always mindful of those rights and am always mindful of what makes america america. I am always mindful of the values of our allies and partners. We arent in this alone. As i said, i need your help. I need strong partners. The men and women of the National Security agency need strong partners. You got to see some of that here tonight. Once we conclude we will have something to eat and a session after dinner where i will take questions and answers and we will take it from there, but let me conclude again by thanking you for being here tonight, thanking you for your willingness to be part of a dialogue because we need a dialogue and as