Days after we noted that OpenAI is expanding its lobbying army to influence regulation, the company announced that former head of the National Security Agency (NSA) – and the longest-serving leader of USCYBERCOM, Paul M. Nakasone, has joined board – just four months after stepping down at the government’s top clandestine data monitoring organization.
Nakasone, a retired US Army general, was nominated to lead the NSA by former President Donald Trump. He directed the agency from 2018 until his departure in February of this year. AsThe Verge notes, Nakasone wrote a WaPo op-ed in support of renewing Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which was ultimately reauthorized by Congress in April – which contained a “terrifying” supercharged spying provision opposed by privacy advocates on both sides of the aisle in DC.