The National Security Agencys top lawyer has left the government and returned to private practice as a partner at Mayer Brown LLP in Washington D.C., running the firms global privacy and security practice.

Since 2012, Rajesh De served as the NSAs chief legal officer and principal legal adviser to its current director, Michael Rogers, and Mr. Rogerss predecessor, Gen. Keith Alexander.

At the NSA, Mr. De stood at the nexus between national security policy and law as the agency was dealing with the fallout from former agency contractor Edward Snowdens exposure of the governments broad-scale surveillance programs.

In an interview this week with the Washington Post, Mr. De declined to talk about Mr. Snowden, who was granted asylum in Russia, but told the paper that he believes that no person, a king or an IT guy, should consider themselves above our democratic system.

Before joining the NSA, Mr. De worked at the White House as staff secretary and deputy assistant to the president. He also served in the Department of Justices Office of Legal Policy. Before that, the Harvard Law School graduate was a partner at Mayer Brown.

With the rapid evolution of the cybersecurity landscape, its an exciting time to return to private practice, he said in a statement released by his firm.

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NSAs General Counsel Joins Mayer Brown