Sen. John McCain said he believes heads should roll at the National Security Agency in response to former defense contractor Edward Snowden's classified information leak.
The Arizona senator and former Republican presidential nominee said Gen. Keith Alexander, director of the NSA, should "resign or be fired," in an interview with German newspaper Der Spiegel.
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"We no longer hold anybody accountable in Washington," McCain said. "Tell me who has been fired for anything that's gone bad in this town."
He called it "absolutely disgraceful" that Snowden, who was not a government employee, was able to access classified information. Before fleeing the United States for Hong Kong in May, Snowden worked for Booz Allen Hamilton, a company that does contract work for the NSA.
With the help of Snowden's leaked materials, The Guardian and other news outlets published a series of ground-breaking reports on the vast scope of NSA surveillance, starting in June.
Snowden most likely didn't have clearance to access to all the information he leaked. Citing unnamed sources, Reuters reported that Snowden convinced 20 to 25 of his colleagues to give him their passwords under the excuse that he needed them to perform his duties as computer systems administrator.
McCain may get his wish, though not immediately. Alexander has already made plans to step down from his position this spring.
The senator also contended Snowden's assertion that the expatriate didn't give Russia access to the NSA files. Snowden spent more than a month holed up in Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport before Russia eventually granted him asylum for one year on Aug. 1.
"If you believe that Mr. Snowden didn't give the Russians information that he has, then you believe that pigs can fly ," McCain said.
You can read the entire transcript of McCain's interview in Der Spiegel here.
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