Close X
Saturday, January 11, 2025
ADVT 
International

Top Indian-american NSA Lawyer Rajesh De Returns To Private Practice

Darpan News Desk IANS, 21 Mar, 2015 04:58 PM
  • Top Indian-american NSA Lawyer Rajesh De Returns To Private Practice
Indian-American Rajesh "Raj" De has left his post as the top lawyer at the National Security Agency (NSA) to return to private practice as partner at the Washington law firm of Mayer Brown.
 
De, who left the spy agency Friday will rejoin the firm as a partner and head of a 35-lawyer practice in June, the Hill, a news site focusing on the US Congress reported.
 
He first made partner at Mayer Brown in 2007, before leaving for a string of government posts.
 
De, 41, became the agency's general counsel in May 2012, putting him right in the centre of the debate over leaks by former contractor Edward Snowden starting in 2013, the Hill said.
 
"It was the most challenging time in the agency's history," he was quoted as saying in an interview in The Am Law Daily.
 
"Everything was so secret, for so long, that there's still a lot of misinformation about what we do."
 
Prior to his NSA post, De worked in the Department of Justice's Office of Legal Policy and the White House.
 
The Harvard-trained lawyer "played a role in preserving the status quo" on NSA's controversial surveillance programmes, the Associated Press suggested.
 
However, De in an interview with AP "described an NSA completely at odds with the free-wheeling, all-seeing behemoth depicted by Snowden: a rule-bound, highly regulated entity that treats the private information of Americans with utmost care."
 
"Reasonable folks can disagree about what NSA should or shouldn't be doing," De was quoted as saying.
 
"But this is not a controversy over widespread abuses by a powerful intelligence apparatus, and I don't think that is by accident."
 
De is one of the highest-ranking Indian Americans in government. His parents, both doctors, immigrated to Philadelphia with $16 to their names, he said.

MORE International ARTICLES

Pope Francis set for Turkey visit

Pope Francis set for Turkey visit
At the start of the three-day tour he is set to meet newly-elected President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara, BBC reported Friday....

Pope Francis set for Turkey visit

Plane carrying MH17 victims' remains arrives in Netherlands

Plane carrying MH17 victims' remains arrives in Netherlands
A Dutch military plane carrying the remains of victims onboard the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 arrived at the Eindhoven Air Base in Netherlands Friday....

Plane carrying MH17 victims' remains arrives in Netherlands

How Nepal's Prime Broke The Impasse Between India, Pakistan

How Nepal's Prime Broke The Impasse Between India, Pakistan
Nepal Prime Minister Sushil Koirala played a crucial role in ending the impasse between India and Pakistan during the retreat at Dhulikhel near here Thursday on the sidelines of the 18th Saarc Summit.

How Nepal's Prime Broke The Impasse Between India, Pakistan

Indian Diaspora Doubts British Sincerity On Gandhi Statue in Parliament

Indian Diaspora Doubts British Sincerity On Gandhi Statue in Parliament
Ahead of the proposed installation of a statue of Mahatma Gandhi at the British parliament, a section of the Indian diaspora has expressed scepticism about the British government's motive behind the move and instead favoured redressal of their concerns as a real tribute to the Father of the Nation.

Indian Diaspora Doubts British Sincerity On Gandhi Statue in Parliament

Uneasy Calm Returns To Ferguson As Protests Continue Nationwide

Uneasy Calm Returns To Ferguson As Protests Continue Nationwide
An uneasy calm returned to Ferguson Thursday after two nights of unrest over a grand jury's decision not to indict a white police officer in the shooting death of an unarmed black teenager in August.

Uneasy Calm Returns To Ferguson As Protests Continue Nationwide

Belly-stuffing Holiday Menu For Obamas; 6 Pies For Dessert, If There's Room After Main Course

Belly-stuffing Holiday Menu For Obamas; 6 Pies For Dessert, If There's Room After Main Course
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is spending a quiet Thanksgiving at the White House where the belly-stuffing menu featured all the holiday's basics.

Belly-stuffing Holiday Menu For Obamas; 6 Pies For Dessert, If There's Room After Main Course