'We don't monitor the behaviors of American citizens': New NSA director slams agency critics and accuses Edward …

NSA Director Michael Rogers delivered his remarks Friday while giving an address at the Politics Aside conference Took over the agency in April after departure of his embattled predecessor, Keith Alexander Rogers said because of Edward Snowden's leaks, groups like ISIS have been 'shutting the NSA out'

By Snejana Farberov for MailOnline

Published: 17:32 EST, 15 November 2014 | Updated: 17:49 EST, 15 November 2014

PR porblem: NSA Director Michael Rogers spoke about the agency's bad image at a conference in California held by the think-tank RAND Corportation

The newly appointed director of the beleaguered National Security Agency has excoriated critics for vilifying the department while insisting that the NSA is not keeping tabs on Americans.

NSA Director Michael Rogers delivered his remarks Friday while giving an address at the Politics Aside conference, which is hosted twice a year in Santa Monica, California, by RAND Corporation - a non-profit global policy think tank.

'We don't monitor the behaviors of American citizens,' Rogers declared. 'That's not what we're about. That's not our mission. That's not what we're here to do. So we've got to work our way through this.'

Rogers, who is a US Navy admiral, took over the NSA in April following the departure of the agency's previous director, Keith Alexander.

Following explosive revelations made by former NSA and CIA contractor Edward Snowden that the agency has been eavesdropping on Americans, Alexander famously lied during a congressional hearing in March 2012, denying data collection on US citizens.

It was not until July 2013 that Director of National Intelligence James Clapper publicly admitted that the NSA does collect metadata on millions of American phone calls.

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'We don't monitor the behaviors of American citizens': New NSA director slams agency critics and accuses Edward ...