Former National Security Agency Director Keith Alexander has asked the U.S. intelligence agency to review patent filings by his company to make sure that they do not reveal any secrets or misappropriate any government work.
Alexander told Reuters he took the step to head off additional controversy about IronNet Cybersecurity, a startup he announced after leaving the NSA last year.
We think it’s a good idea that the government review them
Alexander said in an interview ahead of an appearance at the RSA Conference on cyber security in San Francisco.
Alexander said his company had already applied for some patents, which should eventually become public record.
The patent issue has drawn questions from security experts and ethicists who wondered if Alexander would be profiting from the labors of others at the NSA and U.S. Cyber Command, which he had also headed.
Alexander previously dropped a plan to have an NSA employee work part-time at the startup.
Alexander said that the core ideas in the patents were brought to him by another employee who developed them in the private sector. An NSA spokeswoman did not respond to a request for comment.
Time to cash in !