Obama to name Vice Adm. Michael Rogers as NSA head

Intelligence sources confirm President Obama has settled on Vice Adm. Michael Rogers as the replacement for outgoing National Security Agency chief Gen. Keith Alexander.

White House officials refused to comment.

Alexander, a four-star Army general appointed by President Bush as the 16th director of the NSA, is scheduled to retire in March. Alexander has presided over the most difficult times in NSA history, as disclosures from former contractor Edward Snowden revealed classified information and were placed at the center of a debate about national security and civil liberties.

Alexander has overseen more declassification of details about NSA surveillance than any previous director.

If confirmed by the Senate, Rogers will have to continue the process of carrying out counter-terrorism surveillance with a higher public expectation of transparency and candor.

On Monday, the Justice Department reached an agreement with six large high tech companies to disclose monthly aggregate numbers of  government requests to their email data files resulting from criminal subpoenas, specific terrorist inquiries and Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court-approved data searches.