A Bad Decision

By General Michael Hayden

General Michael V. Hayden is a retired four-star General in the United States Air Force; he served as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency from 2006-2009 and as Director of the National Security Agency from 1999-2005.

The issue of government access to privately held data about American citizens is an important one, and the debate about privacy has expanded into the field of social media. In early May, a firm called Dataminr — which provides real time updates on breaking events by monitoring Twitter data — reportedly cut its ties with the U.S. intelligence community (IC). The Cipher Brief spoke to retired General Michael Hayden, former Director of the CIA and the NSA, about what this means for both the IC and for the strained relationship between the federal government and the tech industry.

The Cipher Brief: What role does social media data play in regards to ensuring or maintaining national security?

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