I sometimes forget that the wheels of government often turn slowly, but they do turn.
It's unfortunate that so much damage was caused by the time this took (and the lack of trust from the lower ranks of the leadership), but it sounds like (at least to some degree) things are improving. I know Im often one of the harshest critics of the NSA (and related agencies), but it's important to acknowledge when things are well handled.
I just wish they would help us play a little defense. The nation needs leadership in transitioning the infrastructure of democracy -- media, information, social ties, and speech -- to resilient digital platforms. The military has long produced leaders on which the country could rely, and we're sorely in need of their service to counter the influence of those who seek to weaken democracy using technology.
The whistle-blower is still working at some app store, and the administrator who illegally crucified him is still on payroll. Meanwhile, thousands of reports of wrongdoing are "resolved" quietly by that office. What exactly is getting better?
Lots of wrongful terminations end with the wronged employee still working elsewhere. There's limits to what we can do to fix that.
Similarly, the guy is still technically on the payroll pending an appeal to the head of the DoD, which is a fair procedural step because we don't want military heads to simply can IGs they don't like.
However, having a high-level civilian panel investigate the behavior of their IG and having the military head of the agency immediately fire him based on their report is a serious turn-around on how much of this has been handled to date.
Even if the civilian authority ultimately reinstates the IG, I suspect that the same admiral who fired him is making quieter moves to shake up the military command, who form the backbone of NSA operations.
For a group who used to be referred to as "No Such Agency" to publicly fire their IG after inviting civilian oversight and inspection is a signal of an internal shift in policy.
When the military is willing to whip the public into a media-fear-frenzy about terrorism, rather than speaking about the real numerical size of the risk and why we should focus on any things, they deserve no credit.
Firstly, the military isn't one homogenous organization, and can be sharply internally divided in a way they don't often expose to the public. And to a large extent, their message is set by partisan civilian leaders.
Secondly, failures in one area doesn't negate progress in another -- and that the leader of the NSA immediately fired their IG when other IGs found an issue with performance is a big deal. That's a fundamental change in policy and accountability to civilian authority.
We can't be purely antagonistic to the military. We demanded they change course, and a few years later, they've clearly changed how they handle these matters.
For a bureaucracy the size of the DoD, that's lightning speed.
These changes had been ordered but not implemented by the time of the Snowden leaks. The current head of the NSA was appointed in 2014, after both the policy implementation and Snowden leaks had happened. Within two years of his appointment, the IG was being investigated for whistleblower retaliation.
I don't know what you expect, but getting a large bereaucratic organization to have a major shake-up like that within a few years is fast, and so far as I can tell, the NSA has made major changes in the last few years, for the better.
Even if you dont believe in the rest of it, the behavior of the admiral sends a message to those serving under him: "I took on the IG, a career politician, to defend this change in policy, and I expect similar performance from my staff." The military fundamentally operates on such acts of leadership and direction, and that alone can have a huge impact on how they operate.
It's unfortunate that so much damage was caused by the time this took (and the lack of trust from the lower ranks of the leadership), but it sounds like (at least to some degree) things are improving. I know Im often one of the harshest critics of the NSA (and related agencies), but it's important to acknowledge when things are well handled.
I just wish they would help us play a little defense. The nation needs leadership in transitioning the infrastructure of democracy -- media, information, social ties, and speech -- to resilient digital platforms. The military has long produced leaders on which the country could rely, and we're sorely in need of their service to counter the influence of those who seek to weaken democracy using technology.