Lt. Gen. Michael V. Hayden, director of the National Security Agency, spoke Friday to the Jefferson Literary and Debating Society in Jefferson Hall on NSA's role in protecting American liberty while investigating the activities of foreign agents.
Hayden gave the speech entitled "NSA: Liberty and Security" to a crowd of 30 students.
By visiting colleges and universities, Hayden said he hopes students "can better understand what it is we do and don't do."
For so long, the NSA has "lived in a vacuum," and now hopes to replace its image with a more public face, Hayden said
The NSA's purpose is to "gather wisdom to inform America's decision-makers," Hayden said.
The NSA must be powerful and secretive, however, "power and secrecy are the two things our country despises," he said.
The NSA works with highly technical equipment that enables the agency to intercept conversations within the electromagnetic spectrum, decrypt the messages, translate them into common language and then analyze the results, he said.
Due to the highly classified nature of the NSA's work, Hayden was unable to elaborate on the NSA's current technology and investigative methods but was able to explain the role that the NSA has played in the history of national security.
Hayden gave an example of the NSA's work during the 1940s when the agency intercepted Soviet KGB communications and decrypted coded messages using pure mathematics eventually identifying Americans who passed secrets to the Russians.
Now the NSA has new enemies with more diverse agendas and must maintain high levels of technological proficiency to ensure national security, Hayden said.
The NSA must investigate foreign agents while still ensuring the privacy of Americans, he said.
The ACLU, among other critics, has charged the agency with invading personal privacy in the midst of intercepting sensitive communication.
"We're a large organization, out there protecting Americans, not threatening them," Hayden said.
Hayden entered active duty in 1969 after earning a bachelor's degree in history and master's degree in modern American history from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pa. He has served as the commander of the Air Intelligence Agency and director of the Joint Command and Control Warfare Center headquartered at Kelly Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas.
Hayden also has been on senior staff at the Pentagon and has held positions abroad in Germany and Bulgaria.
The University is only the second school to hear Hayden speak. His next speaking engagement is at Harvard University.
Jefferson Society members were concerned with the low turnout of audience members.
"It's unfortunate when someone of Hayden's stature comes to the University and the numbers aren't better," Jefferson Society Vice President Brett Ferrell said.
"We were still happy with the turnout given the overlap with the Restoration Ball," Ferrell said.
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