Journalist sues NSA for former head's financial disclosures

A journalist that fears former head of the National Security Agency Keith Alexander may be selling classified material that harms the national interest has sued the NSA to force them to comply with his requests for Alexander's financial disclosures during his time at the NSA.

The basis of a lawsuit is a 1978 law called the Ethics in Government Act, according to the lawsuit, made available by Vice. The request for Alexander's financial disclosure was spurred by his assertion that he will provide cyber security to any firm willing to pay him $1 million a month.

Alexander is believed to currently be in the employ of the Security Industry and Financial Securities Association. Its website says, "SIFMA brings together the shared interests of hundreds of securities firms, banks and asset managers. These companies are engaged in communities across the country to raise capital for businesses, promote job creation and lead economic growth."

Among the organization's members are some of the world's largest and most powerful financial institutions.

The journalist who filed the lawsuit is Jason Leopold. Alan Grayson, a Democratic Congressman from Florida has joined him in this quest. Grayson wrote a letter on Leopold's behalf to the NSA's highest-ranking attorney, citing the Ethics in Government Act as a reason for the NSA to disclose Alexander's finances. Unless Alexander received a special waiver from providing such information, the NSA is legally obliged to reveal Alexander's finances during his time with the agency.

Grayson also wrote a letter to SIFMA calling into question their need for Alexander's expertise. As an organization made up of the world's largest banks, they should have all the money they need to create and maintain their own security networks.

Part of that letter reads, "without the classified information that he acquired in his former position, he literally would have nothing to offer to you."